


It's a strange world out there

by USKiwi



Category: Blade (Movie Series), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, Post-Captain America: The First Avenger, Pre-Avengers (2012), Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2019-11-27 16:52:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 67,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18196847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/USKiwi/pseuds/USKiwi
Summary: Steve just wanted to be left alone with his memories but Fury has big plans for the Cap and he thinks he just found the person to get him out of his shell. The man out of time is about to find out he knows less about the world then he thought.A/N: There will be alot more characters weaving in & out. I've just listed the main ones.





	1. Huh?

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer:  
> I do not own the rights to any movies, TV series, cartoons, comics, graphic novels or books.

“I have a mission for you and I don’t give damn if you want to accept it or not.” With that Fury got back in the elevator, holding it patiently as Steve cleaned himself up from his work out and joined him. 

“The world is stranger then you know ...” said Fury as he pushed a button. “And I am not just talking about meta humans and Twitter I’m talking about the stuff that even a kid couldn't dream up.”

“What are we talking about here, monsters?” Asked Steve, not sure he was hearing Fury right.

“The supernatural to be precise." Replied Fury. "Vampires, witches, werewolves, demons with scales and everything in between. Grimm’s characters brought to life in all their bloody glory.“

“What has that go to do with me? You want me out there chasing Rumpelstiltskin?” Asked Steve in disbelief. Yes he had gone toe to toe with a guy who looked like his head had been dunked in acid but this was a whole new game, hell it wasn't even the same sport!

The lift opened, as they walked down the hallway Steve could not help but notice how everyone’s eyes widened a notch when they recognized who was walking with their boss. Every time he was around the whispering started “Captain America”, “the real Buck Rogers”, “the guy who pulled a Han Solo”. He still did not know what the last one meant, ever since he had woken up he had been scrambling to catch up with a world that had past him by.

“Nothing quite that dramatic there are others out there fighting the good fight which bring us to my point. I have someone I want you to meet, now I have stretched my neck out getting her here but she has a skill set that few others have and more importantly,” Fury said as staff scurried out of their way, “she is one of the few people in the world whose abilities match your own.”

“On the flip side she has more issues then you.” 

“I don’t have issues.” Stated Steve, trying to sound nonchalant, as much to convince himself as anything.

Fury didn't buy it for a second, he stopped and stared at Steve “You've been frozen for 70 years. You HAVE issues.” Then turned around and kept walking and talking as Steve caught back up. "Basically the girl’s got the goods. She is abnormally strong, has fast reflexes, quick healing and quite frankly could probably beat you in close quarter combat. On top of that she managed to get from Boston to California with no money and all sorts of things trying to tear her apart along the way.”

“And the issues?” Asked Steve as the two made way for an Agent pushing a trolley of gear. 

“Very low self confidence and she is on a very justified guilt trip.”

Suddenly what Fury was implying clicked together for Steve. “You pulled her out of prison didn't you?” 

“She would be the first to say that she deserved to be in there. But to say her situation was F.U.B.A.R is an understatement. I haven’t seen such a combination of bad leadership, bad choices, bad timing and straight out bad luck since Nam." And with that comment Fury bought them up to the conference room.

They stopped outside the door to the conference room and Fury turned his head to Steve. “Look I understand you have misgivings but one of the reasons I have lived so long is by surrounding myself with people with different skill sets. You have a moral compass and experience in large scale combat, she has survival instincts and experience going one on one with things bigger and stronger then her.”

And with that he opened the door. The conference room was empty apart from a young woman quickly trying to tidy herself up, obviously having been perched on the table. It would have looked rather innocent if it was not for the knife she was holding.

“Hey Boss whose the Captain America wannabe?”

“Faith Lehane I would like to introduce you to Steve Rogers. Cap’ I would like you to meet the Vampire Slayer”

With that the brunette's mouth dropped “ You've got to be shitting me! But I thought he was just ... I mean how ...... Huh??” 

“The comics book that I take it you are referring to were started as an attempt to raise moral and bonus bonds. As for Steve he has been frozen for the last seventy years in a kind of suspended animation.” Fury deadpanned acting like he was talking about something as mundane as the weather.

“Damn ...I’ll give you this you're the best looking grand pa I’ve ever laid eyes on.” Said Faith giving Steve a quick once over with her eyes. 

Steve lips twitched as he struggled to keep from giving her same treatment with his eyes.

"If you two are done I would like to get down to business." Said Fury, gesturing at them to take a seat.

Faith scooted around to the other side of the table, allowing to take the chair closet to him whiles Fury took the end of the table. As they made to sit down, both men were startled by the sound Faith dropping her knife onto the table.

Seeing the look Faith quickly picked it up, then went to slowly put it back down again but stopped an inch above the table unsure what her next move should be. "I'm sorry about the knife I have just been practicing with it. Not that I mean to use it on anyone around here ... you're not about to ask me to use it on anyone around here are you? I mean I know you said there was the possibility I may have ..."

Fury raised his hands to ease Faith's nervousness. "Just put the knife down I promise you'll get a chance to use it soon and not on humans. In fact you are probably going to need something bigger."

Faith's eyes lit up as they all took a seat "Sounds like you got a big bad lined up."All hesitancy gone at the thought of doing some righteous violence.

"I guess I do but before we get started there is someone I'd like you both to meet." Fury said has leaned forward and pushed the comm. button. "Miss Hill would you send in Dr Jenson."

All three looked up at the door as an African American women in her early thirties wearing a blouse and slacks walked in with several folders.

"Steve and Faith I would like you to make Dr Karen Jensen, Karen I would like you to meet Steve Rogers and Faith Lehane ."After everyone shook hands Fury made to continue as the newcomer took a seat beside Steve. "Karen here is a former hematologist at New York Central. She has had some experience working with a counterpart of yours Faith by the name of Blade."

"Blade? Well I guess it is no weirder name then Angel or Spike, taking it his choice of weapon isn't a baseball bat." Commented Faith as she tried to place the name, Diane had mentioned that there were groups independent of the Council that hunted the supernatural but the name did not ring a bell.

"I am sure he has used one more than once or twice." Karen replied. "But with all honesty I have probably seem him use a gun more often than not."

Faith's eye's narrowed. "I thought you said he was in the same line of work? Guns are useless against vamps unless he somehow managed to get wooden bullets. "

Karen turned to look at Fury who took over. "When we first meet I mentioned that we know something about vampires the your watchers didn't let on. The big one being there are not actually one type of vampire but two."

Faith's eyes went up "What the fuc.." She stopped under Fury's glare and corrected herself "I mean what the hell do you mean there are two types?" 

It was Karen who provided the answer. "In a way the type of vampire you are use to dealing with is actually a mix of two things. One is the vampire and the other is demon. The other type is pure vampire, victims of a virus which may rob them of their humanity but technically not of their soul."

"These vamps they still feed off humans, may be play with them a bit just to make the taste a bit sweeter" Faith asked her with steel in her voice.

"Yes but..." started Karen.

"Then trust me lady you do NOT know what you are talking about." Faith turned to Fury. "Where did you find this tree huger again?"

"This 'tree huger" snapped Karen. "Was bitten by a vampire so I assure you I know what I am talking about. Just because they have technically kept their soul does not mean they are able to use it. The virus effectively subdues a person's pre-frontal cortex which is where all your moral decision making occurs. When you add that to the increase in senses and thirst for blood a person's conscience, becomes dormant. They may not loose their soul to a demon but it is a close biological equivalent of it. And I assure you they are no less vicious."

Fury leaned forward, clasping his hands "It also means that unlike the demon vampires you are used to dealing with they are allot more sophisticated, they have their own verbal and written language. There is a hierarchy in place and they have 'familiars,' humans who do their dirty work for them by covering their tracks and even provide armed security"

Playing with her knife Faith was silent for a minute "I just can't believe that Diane never told me. I remember her saying some vampires don't dust like the rest but she said it was just a aberration. Did B ... " Looking up at Fury.

Shaking his head Fury looked over to Faith. "No she was just as surprised as you. They tend to stay away from the whole apocalypse deal, bad for business and everything so it is possible they thought it was not necessary"

Faith's eyes lost focus as she tried to process. "I can't believe Diane wouldn't have told me or that Giles wouldn't have told Buffy. I mean the diaries of previous Watchers would have mentioned them. And the fact they don't means that none of them knew so either the Watcher's Council has been completely in the dark or ... or ... oh Jesus Christ." Faith leaned back in her chair, her eyes having gone as wide as saucers in disbelief.

Once again Fury found himself placating one his newest employees. "I know, look I cannot say one way or another. What I can tell you is that they exist and there is people out there fighting them". 

"Who?" asked Steve. The whole time he had been sitting there quietly, arms resting on the table. It had been allot to take in, not only was it the craziest debrief he had every had but he was also studying the mannerisms of his new partner. So far all he saw was a girl who seemed more out of her depth then he was. 

"They call themselves Nightstalkers, they work as sleeper cells one goes down another one takes up the slack. It is the only way I could keep it low key and the funding hidden from the bean counters."

"It's off the books?" questioned the rather straight laced Steve, not too sure how he felt about it. But considering his first mission with Peggy and Hank hadn't been authorized on any level he could not really object. 

"The US government does not officially recognize the existence of vampires so as a federal agency SHIELD cannot officially go after them. But I will be damned if I am going to sit back while these bastards run our streets."

"Then how..."Faith flicked her eyes around the table,before settling on Steve. "You have me been down as a meta-human don't you? It was how you managed to get me out of prison, said I would be useful against others of my kind while really you wanted me to get back to slaying." They all looked at Faith who was looking at her hands like they where back in cuffs.

Fury merely nodded his head. "That about sums it up. But I want you to help with both the supernatural and the meta."

"Okay ... okay then." Said Faith nodding her head in consent as she straightened up and got her head back in the game.

For about the next twenty minutes Fury and Karen then continued debriefing them, going over the differences in the two kinds and how they could be 'dusted', a term both Karen and Fury found themselves adopting as the discussion went on. When Faith commented that the virus vamps or, 'VVs' as she put it, seemed to have allot more weaknesses with both silver and garlic effecting them Fury and Karen agreed it was worth looking into to see if there was actually a connection between the two species or if they evolved separately

Finally it came time to discuss what was going to happen next for Fury's two new agents.

"Do you really have a shield?" Steve nodded "That is cool, not my style but still cool" Faith paused for a second "If we are going to do this then you're going to need to go old school, silver bullets may work on these 'virus vamps' but they do not work on the demon kind, a lot of other demons would just shrug them off as well. And I am guessing a lot of metas would do the same if it comes to that "

She turned and looked at Fury "For Steve I'm thinking of some kind of short sword, you know like the Greeks or Romans used"

"There called a gladius" Interjected Steve grateful to finally be able to add to the discussion.

"Yeah gladius, maybe two for you cause carrying around shield ain't exactly discreet. I'll go with a claymore, I can use my hair to hide the hilt if necessary. Going to need some silver stakes as well, I've only got a couple of wood ones B gave me. I'll let Steve take the lead on the guns."

Though Faith quickly added "...but if you have something that takes a bayonet that would be cool, oh and a real solid butt in case we need to smack someones face in. And no Glocks, I know you guys all carry them and the plastic is real strong but I don't trust them not to shatter if I have to pistol-whip something."

"I can tell Blade is going to like you" said Karen with a sad smile. "If it helps when I was with Blade he was using Magnum Munitions MAC-11, though he was tinkering with a STK* 9mm USP last time I saw him."

It took a second or two for Steve and Fury to get their eyes fully back in their heads, the Doc really was full of surprises. "I'm sure Steve will take that under advisement for the future." Fury deadpanned. "But neither of you are going anywhere till both of have been cleared by our range master with modern weaponry. And until you," looking at Faith "are happy with the Cap's close combat skills."

Faith's face went white for a second before her trademark grin came back up "sounds like fun" then turning to look at Steve "what do you say Cap, you ready to get all hot and sweaty with little old me" with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

Looking across at her Steve smiled back, trying to hide his nervousness. Many of the USO dancers that had toured with him when he was selling War Bonds had been anything but subtle but he had feeling Faith was on a whole other level. "I am sure it will be fun for at least one of us. Between going on missions and been worried about accidentally breaking someone's jaw I have never done any proper sparring before".

His smile faltered when he saw the evil twinkle in her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: STK = Stark Industries – the gun names I pulled from IMDBF and just tweaked them to fit the Marvel Universe
> 
> I know it is short but just seemed a good place to stop, the rest will be longer.


	2. Taking measure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the rights to any TV show, movie, cartoon, comic, graphic novel or book.  
> Blade is coming in during the next chapter – had to figure a scenario where SHIELD would get involved.

“I can’t believe I am saying this Cap” 

THUMP .... “OHUH” 

“But you kinda suck at this ...” 

“Ahh” Thump thump

“At this had to hand stuff.” Said a barely out of breath Faith as she rested her right foot on Steve’s chest .... Steve’s very sweaty, perfectly formed chest. Faith quickly backed away, knowing her mind well enough that she would be trying to make Steve sweat for a whole lot of difference reasons if she stayed close to him. 

They were still down in the old storage area / boxing gym, Steve still being reluctant to work out in the gym with the rest of the employees. To say the session had not got as she thought it would was an understatement. She knew the comics had exaggerated things, after all they had him punching out Hitler, but she had never realised how reliant he had been on his shield. Sure he may not had access the hand to hand training that was available to both civilians and the military in today’s world but still she had expected him to have had some training. The guy threw down more like an experienced bar room brawler.

"Before I was given the syrum know one would clear me for CQC training becuase they were too scared I would get badly hurt." Said Steve as he got back up to his feet and walked to the side of the ring where his towel was. "First time in a gym after I took the syrum I put my fist through a punching bag. By the time I got it under control we were in thick of it against Hyrda. Seemed to do well enough against them.” 

Faith sighed and took a swing from a water bottle. “I'm not doubting that, but I unless missed something those guys were still your run of the mill humans and like you I doubt that had any idea what a dojo is.” She grabbed her own towel giving her face a rub down. “Look one of the first things Diane told me was that despite all upgrades you have as a slayer there is always going to be something bigger, stronger and faster than you, hence all the martial arts and weapons stuff we learn.”

"Here.” She reached back threw the ropes to the stairs and threw another water bottle over to him. “I am not saying your without skill, you have the drop on me speed wise and obviously height wise but right now I would sooner Xander ...” Faith grimaced for a second “or even Clint rather then you against a master vampire” taking another swing.

Steve raised his eyebrows a bit at that. He knew Xander (she had stopped calling him X-man after the debrief on the X-Men) was someone from Sunnydale that she had hurt somehow, as for Clint ‘Hawkeye’, well he knew that he was good at a bow or rifle but apart from that..

“By that I mean they both know what their strengths and weaknesses are, you on the other hand ... well you remind me a bit of myself when I hit Sunny D thinking I was basically unstoppable. And I don’t want you to go through what I had to to figure out otherwise”.

Sensing an opening Steve was about to ask what she meant by that when the elevator opened up and Maria walked in “How’s it going?”

“He’s not doing too bad, we need to work on expanding his range of moves but he is picking it up. It is a bit tricky trying to teach him while sparring with him at the same time.”

Lifting an eyebrow Maria though about it for a second. “I’ll see if Tony can spare Natasha for a couple of days though she may ask that she has a round or two herself. I understand working with Tony can be rather ... frustrating at times.” Turning to Steve “I need to speak to you for a couple of minutes about some HR details.”

Steve turned his head to Faith who nodded her head. “You go ahead I’ll do a bit of stuff on the punching bag and catch up with you at lunch.”

Once Steve and Maria had left Faith let out a breath and gingerly got out of the ring, sitting on the stairs holding her ribs as the adrenaline dropped and the pain set in “Jesus that guy hits like a fricking bull”. The dude definitively had some strength in him but she stood by what she said about him only having an advantage in speed. Unless he was holding his punches because she was a woman, which being all honourable and all probably was not off the cards. 

“Stupid bloody man being brought up in times when guys actually had some bloody manners” she muttered, leaning back against the post as she wandered once again if she fully understood what she had gotten into.  
__________________________________________

Flashback  
Three weeks earlier

Faith was in a good mood I mean yeah it was prison and everything but the inmates had stopped trying to hassle her and all the restrictions placed on her since her last break out had well and truly been lifted. And just like that her good mood started to evaporate, her last break out had been to stop an apocalypse at the Hellmouth with Angel and the tacit support of Giles. Which of course made her think of how she had avoided the Scoobies, which of course made her think of Buffy. Even now when she looked back at it she unsure how things had got so fucked up. If she had only opened the door sooner after turning down B’s offer of help, if only Wes had not overheard Buffy and Giles talking, if only ... if only ... god she is going to drive herself crazy thinking of this.

“Faith you have visitors” she looked up at the guard 

“Oh Jack you mean you did not just come over to see me” she quipped back with a cheeky grin.

Jack just smiled “ I’m sure the warden would have something to say if I did, now hurry up.”

Faith got up from the table, ignoring some of the glares she was getting from the older inmates. It was general knowledge that the warden and many of the guards had a bit of a soft spot for Faith despite her continued escapes. 95% of the time she was a model prisoner, the other 5% she was either defending herself or another inmate who was being pressed by one of the female gangs. 

“Hey where are we going?” asked Faith noticing that they were not heading towards the visitor room. 

“Not those kind of visitors, sounds like some suits are interested in you.”

That got Faith’s attention, her mind going through the possibilities. It could not be her lawyer otherwise Angel would have give her the heads up. It could be Wolfram and Heart trying to make a deal or the cops ...Faith stopped, her face going pale. Jack stopped and put on the official resolve face of prison guard. “Look I don’t know what this is about, but you’re smart enough to know how this works.”Faith nodded and entered the interview room. ‘Definitely not cops’ was her first thought. The guy with the suit, standing with his hands in front of him holding a folder could pass as a cop but he could also be hundred other things. The guy sitting at the table though was a different story, even when you took away the fact he looked like a one-eyed Shaft there was definitely something .... off about him. He looked kind of sexy though, had the whole dangerous vibe thing going and Faith couldn’t help but wonder if the stories about bl...

“Miss Lehane my name in Nick Fury head of SHIELD, please take a set” indicating the seat across from him.  
Faith warily took the seat “I guess I would be honoured if I knew what the hell any of that meant.”

“Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division” interjected the suit.

The Shaft wannabe indicated over his shoulder. “This is one of my agents Phil Coulsin, Phil is here because he has the most experience with people like yourself.”

Faith suddenly got fidgety, “look man I don’t know who you think I am.”

“I don’t have to think anything, I know exactly who you are Miss Lehane. And more importantly thanks to Miss Summers I know what you are as well.”

Before Fury knew what was happening he found himself on the floor in a head lock. He tried to turn his head to see what had happened to Agent Coulson. “If you are looking for your bum boy he is located between my legs. I admit he is not that bad looking and it has been awhile but if you do not tell me right now what you did with B ...”

“Miss Summers is at home in Sunnydale where she wants to be. I HAD offered her a job opportunity but she had to turn it down for obvious reasons, before we parted ways she mentioned you may be interested.”

“Say that I do believe you, you must have noticed that I currently have a job in the prison metal shop and it is not like I can just walk out and quit.”

The door bursed open, multiple footsteps heralding the arrival of the guards. “Let go of them now! Let go of them now! Move! Move!”

Faith released her grip on the two men and did not resist as the guards dragged her off them and handcuffed her.

“Relax guys we were just having a friendly chat.”

“That may be pushing it” said Fury rubbing his throat “but we have not finished here yet.”

“Sir it is prison policy....”

“I know full well what your policy is, your warden went over it fully when I came in. And I made it quite that no matter what I was not leaving till I had my say.”  
The guards hesitated obviously not convinced. “Look you can keep her handcuffed if you want but we are not done here till I say so.” 

The guards moved forward handcuffing Faith’s hands to the table and her feet together. “One of our guards is staying in here, that is non-negotiable.”  
Fury nodded and the guards filed out bare one.

A very uneasy silence filled the room as everyone eyed each other.

“You where saying about B?” Barked Faith

“What I was about to say was that I offered Buffy what I am about to offer you. In fact she even took the tour with all the bells and whistles.”

“And what the shoe budget wasn’t high enough?”

“pffhmm””

Faith turned and gave the guard the evils. “Sorry” mumbled the guard, taking a embarrassed step back. 

“The problem was that she already has a job, one that was very limited when it comes to travel options especially from New York.”

“The big A?” Faith’s eyes widened “Jesus I have not been on the east coast since ...”Her head dropped and she started to wring her hands again. As much as she could with the handcuff on..

“How much did B tell you about what I did in Sunnydale?”

“Enough to imply that you did not confess to everything you have done, even stuff that the cops would believe.”

“And despite that you still want me? Why? I mean I have to be...”

“What you are,” said Fury leaning forward “is someone who lost their way but had enough sense to realise it. Even if your choice of remedy was extreme... Let me tell you about the Avengers program”  
\-----------------------

And that was it, that was how he hooked her. "Not like I had anything better to do anyway" Faith chuckled to herself . Wincing she got back to her feet she tried to clear her head ‘Ah well I’m here now might as well back the best of it, maybe get a bit of action before they get sick of me and throw me back in prison.’

And with that settled the self-described fuck up of the Avengers programme headed off to get cleaned up.


	3. First impressions

Rrrrrrip  
Everyone in the cafeteria looked up but Faith did not notice as she sat alone with parts of the Daily Bugle and the Daily Globe spread out in front of her. The remainder heaped in a mess beside her tray. 

She was some caught up in what she was doing she didn't pick up the footsteps that stopped beside her table. ”You creating a scrap book?”

Faith looked up, hamburger still in her mouth. “mmmrch”

Clint narrowed his eyes, looking down at the Slayer.

“Remearch, research” said Faith as she swallowed 

Clint’s eyes trailed over the headlines, ‘Spiderman Hero or Menace?’, ‘Daredevil strikes again!’

‘These guys are a little below are radar, is Fury asking you to do some digging?’ He asked while taking a seat.

“Na I’m just worried that he might. I mean yeah these guys are supposed to be white hats – good guys but all it takes is some politician looking to make a name for himself”....”

“And you're worried that you are the one who will get asked to pick them up. Not going happen.” Clint pointed his glass of juice at Faith. “No way is Fury going to allow some glory hound push him around” 

Raising an eyebrow Faith smirked at the marksman. “This coming from the guy who still owes me 20 bucks on which Kardasian...”

“Hey you had woman intuition going for you.”

“Yeah and you and Fury are what blood-brothers?”

Clint gave a bit of a shrug and took another sip “Hey look you’re from Boston right? I have a line of a pair of tickets for the Red Sox Yankees game..”

Faith looked at him in surprise. “You offering to take ME? Why? I mean thanks but I am more of a pigskin girl." Seeing the look flash across his face she desperately tried to think of a way to make up for her put down. "Hey why don’t you take Cap? He could do with some bro-mance.” It was one of the few things she was sure about him, both accepting pretty quick there were areas of each other's lives that for now were private. But them maybe she hadn't bFaith crooked her head for a second then looked across the room. “Hey Cap just talking about you.” Shaking her head to clear it Faith was about she was about to speak when something twinged in the back of her head. She crooked it to the side for a second then looked across the room. “Hey Cap just talking about you.”

Steve walked over “sure I am not interrupting something?”

“Nah Clint was just saying how he had a line on some baseball tickets. Thought you may be game so to speak.”

Clint averted his eyes and took a gulp of his juice. This was not how he had seen the conversation going and could only imagine what Natasha would say when she found out. Then again how many people could say they had hung out with Captain America? 

The three spent the next 30 minutes talking crap, joined by Joe from Ops and Olivia from IT. Steve and Faith had even started to drop their guard until they got the call to meet Fury in the conference room. When Faith and Steve got their Fury and Karen where already there waiting, and considering the two seemed more serious then usual it was obvious that something was up. 

“Hey boss what’s the stitch?”

“Unfortunately we are going to have to cut short your training.”

Faith and Steve looked at each other before taking a seat. 

“We have an apocalypse on our hands boss?” 

“Nothing quite as serious, not yet anyway.” Fury leaned forward. “Three days ago the Nightstalkers reported they were getting word of some type of infection hitting the vampire ranks. Some kind of vampire rabies if you will, increased blood lust and some serious genetic mutations.”

“How reliable is their intel?” asked Steve putting on his mission debrief face.

“I am not sure, I have not been able to raise them for the last 36 hours. At the moment I am just classifying them as M.I.A but if they came across some of these vamps and the normal ways of dealing with them no longer worked ...” The simple shrug Fury gave was enough to relay his thoughts on the matter.

“Well I guess it is a good thing you bought me in” piped in Faith trying to break the sense of apprehension in the room. “What’s our next move?”

Fury hit a couple of buttons and a map popped up on screen behind him. “Your next move is to track down Blade and find out what he knows. We have managed to pinpoint the area he is in but you will have to locate the exact building yourself.”

“I can find him.” Everyone looked at Faith who rolled her eyes “Vampire Slayer here, get me close enough to the building he is in and I can sense him.” She paused for a second. "Well hopefully I can, I mean the dude isn't even a full vampire let alone a VV. 

Fury nodded his head then looked at them “well get going”. 

Two hours later they were still driving around the area with Steve behind the wheel. So far they had checked out five warehouses with lights still running, one drug house, and one porn studio. Even Faith threatening to cut off Steve’s balls and make him eat them had not entirely taken the grin off his face after the guy at the gate mistook her for one of the girls.

“Stop, I think this is us.”

Steve stopped the SUV “You’re sure? ”

“Definitely something in there not human, whatever it is my bat senses are telling me it isn’t like the vamps I usually deal with but as I said earlier I wasn’t expecting Blade or these VVs to register the same .”

“Is bat senses an official Slayer terminology?” Steve asked, finding it slightly amusing. Then again it had been a long day.

“Nah it was something B use to say, Xander kept bugging her to say Superman sense but she thought it was too long winded. The way B told it he then apparently starting to moan that Batman did not have any supper senses. Hell even I know that bats .... you’re not following a word I’ve been saying have you?”

“I read on or two of the Action Comics before I headed over to France” admitted Steve, glad they had found something to connect with. “I actually preferred the Tex Thompson character Mr America, probably where the idea to give me the name Captain America came from ”

“Who?”

“Never mind.” Sighed Steve as he opened the door, once again reminded of his predicament. 

Faith got out and leaned against the door as Steve came around the front. “How do you want to handle this?” Asked Steve hating to admit the fact that despite previously leading a team of commandoes he was having to take the lead from a 18 year old.

“Honestly not sure, think it is best that you take the lead, vampires I deal with get one whiff of a slayer and they act like a kid in a candy store. And they ain’t got guns to use when they realise I ain’t some innocent girl they can use for dinner.”

Steve looked at her “alright maybe not innocent but you get the point.” she conceded.

“I’ll take the lead, you follow slightly behind me in case it is not Blade but some other vampire .”

They made there was towards the front door. About 40 feet out Steve pointed out a camera at the corner of the building and another one high up to their left on a pole.  
Faith blew it a kiss and wiggled her fingers. Steve turned around and stared down at her “I realise you and I come from different backgrounds but if this is going to work you are going to need show a bit more professionalism.”

“Fury did not hire me because I know how to polish my shoes. Besides if we both walk up to these guys like we have stakes shoved up are asses they’re likely to think where pigs or...”

“Actually I was going to go with porn stars already in costume considering are neighbours.” Faith and Steve turned around and looked at their ridiculer, a rather grisly old man cradling a shotgun in his arms standing in the door way. 

“You must be Whistler.” 

“Depends whose asking.” Was the grunted reply, trigger figger resting one the guard. 

p>Steve took a step forward with hands slightly raised. “Steve Rogers and Faith Dormer, where with SHIELD.”

Whistler huffed. “If your Feds then I’m Marylyn Monroe.” Though both where dressed in suits Faith still had not buttoned her shirt up any further despite her recent embarrassment.

“Actually you look more like a cross between Woody Nelson and Bill Connolly.” Piped in the Slayer taking a step forward to stand by Steve. “Look we know who you are and we know that you work with Blade. And you’re right where not Feds we just work for them. Word on the street is that some of the vamps are acting a bit twitchy. We were sent to find out what you know.”

There was a silent pause as Whistler eyed them both before bring up the shotgun to rest on his shoulder. “Well we're not going to get anywhere out here, don’t worry you can keep your weapons just don’t make many sudden moves, vamps being twitchy and all.”

The two followed Whistler into warehouse. As they entered they took in the layout out of the place. It was a basic set up with a workbench one end and one fine looking ride up front.

Faith let out a whistle. “Now that is what I call car, better then that pimped sedan out they got us driving in.”

“Car is only as good as its mechanic and darling I’m the best there is.” The self described genius mechanic sauntered out of what had probably once been a ground floor office. He was trying to look suave but failing miserable due to the fact he was covered in oil and grease.

“I’m Spud, welcome to my humble abode.”

“Last time I checked you weren’t the only one living here. And the term hide out is more accurate, or was anyway. Someone mind explaining to me who the suits are.”  
It took all of Faith’s control to stop herself from letting out another whistle, a growl, or to make some other noise that showed just how much she wanted to jump Blade on the stairs and to hell with the bystanders. The half-vampire just projected raw power, like a wild cat ready to bring down his prey and eat it, none of the playing with your food crap that Angelus or Spike liked. 

“Oh honey trust me no Fed knows the ...”

“Where with SHIELD, where her on orders from the director.” Steve interjected before Faith could say something that would really damage their credibility.

“Well woopy do good for you. And how are we suppose to know you are not familiars?” 

“You asking me to strip? Your’e going to have to atleast buy me a drink first.”

No one knew quite what to do with that statement.

Blade made his way down the stairs and stepped in front of the two, nostrils flaring. “You both smell funny. What are you?”

“I’m the Vampire Slayer. The Cap here is ... well that’s classified.”

“A vampire slayer. Where all vampire slayers here darling.” sneered Spud.

“She meant it as title dick wad.” Whistler turned to look at Faith “I thought it was some kind of myth to keep vamps from sucking on young girls in case they suddenly turned around and kicked their ass. Last I heard was there was suppose to be one in California.”

“Nope all real, we’ve been around almost since the beginning. Moved up here after Fury scouted me.” Faith figured it was better not to mention Buffy at this stage as it would just confuse things, that’s what she told herself anyway.

Steve thought it was time to get things back on track. “The director sent us here to find out if you have heard anything about some kind of virus effecting vampires.”  
Blade and Whistler shared a look. “First we have heard of it where is your intel. coming from?”

“A group that SHIELD has been running called Nightstalkers. They mentioned them in a preliminary report but they are currently MIA, possibly KIA.”

“Never heard of them, sound like a metal band.” Grunted Blade.

“You may not of heard of them but Whistler should have if he ever gave a shit about his kid.” Faith snapped projecting her own issues into the situation.

That raise a eyebrow from Whistler. “Last I heard from Abbey she was looking at going college. Not joining some kind of Fed suicide squad. Was she part of the group that went missing?”

Steve shook his head “Your daughter is part of the reserves, if this lot are confirmed KIA she will be part of the group that takes over.”

“She’s not technically a Fed, same goes for Steve and me. It is kind of off the books, there ain’t going to be some big APB out for them.” 

Spud stuck up a hand. “Can we jump back a bit. What do you mean her title is the Vampire Slayer?”

“Short version back in the day the world use to be overrun by deamons, then some Gandalf types got together and gave a girl a boost. Speed, strength, the whole works and when she dies another girl was called and so onto to you got me.” And with that a hopeful grin lit up Faith’s face. “So what do you say big boy care to spar?

20 minutes later  
“Your girl isn’t bad, she telegraphs her right hook though.” Steve looked up as Whistler handed him a cup of coffee and went back to watching Blade and Faith spar.  
To say she was not bad was an understatement in Steve’s book. Watching them go at each other tooth and nail made him realise just how much she has been holding back when they had been sparring. And what was even scarier was that Blade seemed to have her on the back foot. Whistler walked over to where Faith had laid freed herself of her weapons so she could spar un-hindered. It was a good assortment, two silver stakes, a rather nasty looking blade, and a M11A2 Colt with what looked like a small ultraviolet light attached to it.

When Whistler picked up the gun Steve got up and walked over. Though he knows these guys are good guys it didn’t mean he was going to trust them handling one of his or Faith’s weapons. His concerns where raised when Whistler took out the magazine and ejected one on the bullets. “Good to see you are using silver bullets and silver stakes, shows you kids have some idea what you’re doing.” Whistler looked at the head of the bullet “what have you done with the tips?”

“There not full silver jackets so to speak.” Said Steve getting up to join him “Tony calls them ‘silver pillows’, hollow points filled with small flecks of silver and then sealed. The idea is that the flecks will cause a kind of infection, slow down their healing process.”

"Nice trick." Grunted Whistler putting the bullet back in the clip and re-inserting it into the gun. Steve relaxed his posture a little bit. Looking at Whistler he could not help but think what it would have been like if he had meet Colonel Phillips, with their equally gruff personalities.

On his part Whistler was seeing an opportunity to build some bridges. "Look I know Blade is a bit wary of working with you guys and in all honesty so am I but we could also use some more toys. And sooner or later the FBI is going..."

And then the lights went out.


	4. Blowing kisses

Faith and Blade stopped their sparing, both secretly glad for the respite. The sparring partners found themselves almost back to back trying to figure what was happening. 

“Did you ..." huh whooo "forget to pay your power bill?” Asked Faith.’

“No" phwwww. "Did you forget to mention you bought back up?”

“Please like I would trust any of those G I Joe wannabes to watch ...”

Then the spot lights turned on and gun shots started to ringing out.

Steve had been the first to spot an intruder moving in the rafters. Dressed all in black with some kind of sword attached to his back, he was moving along a beam with a speed and confidence that instantly made Steve very wary. 

“11 o’clock up high.” He yelled and then pulled his gun out as he frantically tried to track the intruder, taking shots when he thought he had a lock on him.

Beside him Whistler was taking a slightly more expansive approach, reaching above the lights he pulled down a pump-action shotgun and started blasting away at their elusive prey. 

Meanwhile a seemingly unarmed Blade and Faith found themselves face to face with another sword wielding assailant, a female one at that.

“Huh guess the women’s rights movement made it to the vampire world.” Quipped Faith as the slowly started to spread apart.

“Don’t you ever shut up?”

“B must have worn off on me more than I thought.”

Blade’s response why to whip out a knife he had been hiding in the back of his shirt while Faith pulled out ... a switchblade.

She could swear she saw a smirk through the woman's balaclava.

Things where progressing faster off the training floor.

Whistler and Steve’s assailant was still playing tag me with a bullet, jumping around from beam to beam like a jack rabbit in heat. But his luck ran out when he flipped in the air to get down to ground level. He was mid way through the second flip when Spud hit the flood lights. Steve caught him in the shoulder, throwing the assailants trajectory off track so instead of landing on the table on his feet he landed on his shoulder. Automatically he rolled off the table and planted both feet onto the floor, ready to pull his sword. Only to turn around and find himself starring into Whistler’s shotgun.

At the front Blade and Faith where both circling their opponent trying to find a opening, jumping back and constantly circling to stay out of reach of her sword. But their wannabe assassin was also playing it cautious making sure she did not over extend herself and turning to keep an eye on both her targets.  
Suddenly a voice rang out. “Drop your weapon sweetheart.”

The assassin froze as she heard the unmistakable sound of a shotgun being pumped followed by a hand gun being cocked. Dropping to her right knee the wannabe ninja held her sword above her head while removing her balaclava with her left hand. “Parlay. I bring a message for the one known as Blade.” Then slowly she pulled out a CD case from her back and presented it to Blade.

In desbelief Faith stared down at the kneeling figure. “Wait a second, you mean you and your boy toy .... well former boy toy did the whole ninja routine to deliver a message?” She looked across to Steve “All I had to do was blow a kiss at a camera.”

“You’re people shot first.” Retorted the ninja wannabe, as Blade cautiously took the case afrom her. “My partner Asad had a scroll verifying that we are representatives from the Shadow Cabinet, the ruling body of the Vampire Nation.”

“You mean your vampire nation. We know there is more than one type of vampire out there.” Put in Faith, still eyeing the wannabe whilest holding her switch blade loosly by her side.

“Those are abominations, freaks that do not play any part of the natural order of things.”

“Natural order? You’re a fricking vampire! ... us mutants are more a part of the natural order then you.” Steve kept a straight face guessing Faith was trying to make up for the slip about them not being not part of Blade’s group. If Blade could smell they were different then it stood to reason this supposed messenger could to.

While this was going on Blade had moved over to a computer and brought up the CD. “Are you going to argue semantics or are you going to come over and look at this disk?”

Faith went over to stand behind Blade keeping half an eye on... “Hey Lara Croft what’s your name?”

“Nyssa, daughter of...”

“I said your name not your life story, Jesus everyone wants to be on Jerry Springer.” 

“If you’re both done .” Snarked Blade

Faith kept her mouth shut and lent over his shoulder to see what appeared to be a slide show of security camera footage from what looked like the dodgiest hospital she had ever seen. And then she watched as an entire floor of people got taken apart by one guy in a hoodie.

“Where was this taken?” Asked Steve as he took in the carnage and the timestamp on the video.

It was Whistler who provided the background details.“Blood donation centre, vamps run allot of them. Means less dead bodies filling the streets.”

“Huh smart. Whatever this guy is he sure as hell doesn’t act like he has some kind of vamp disease. He waits his time to make his move, obviously he wasn’t twitching or foaming at the mouth or they wouldn’t of let him in." She leaned further forward. "And what the fuck is with his chin? ”

“We believe it is some kind of mutation. They need to feed constantly and when they do the vampire does not dies but instead is turned into another one of these Reapers.”

“So you need us to come and clean up your mess before they work through you blood suckers and start on us humans.” Grunted Whistler.

“If it is not stopped it will eventually spill over into the human world you cherish so dearly which is why El Damaskinos, head of the vampire nation, requests your presence. ”Nyssa flicked her eyes towards Faith and Steve “of course the offer extends out to your colleagues as well.”

Faith scrunched her brow, Fury had mentioned that he did not believe vampires knew of the Nightstalkers and officially SHIELD had no interest in the nightlife. Not to mention the very real possibility that this head honcho would recognise her as a slayer.

“So when do we get cracking?” Asked Spud.

Standing up Blade stared at the monitor for a second. “You’re not going anywhere the three of you are staying here. Make sure there are no surprises when we come back and work out how these guys got in.”

70 minutes later  
“Can you stop doing that please it is starting to freak me out.”

Faith had spent the last 10 minutes balancing her knife on different parts of her body, currently trying to get it to stand up on her left elbow. 

“Why Spud are my womanly charms starting to wear off?”

Spud just grunted and walked off back into the old office chewing on his tooth pick.

Steve, who was leaning against one of the tables, watched Spud stalk out.“You like messing with people’s heads don’t you?” 

Not taking her eyes of the blade Faith shrugged. “Keeps things interesting, stops them from thinking straight. Can come useful if they ever side to turn on me.”

That comment raised an eyebrow from Steve “Is that what you really think? That everyone is out to get you. Faith you cannot be part of a organisation ...”

“Cut the crap Capt, you really think Fury gives a shit about me? If I slip up just a little he’ll have my ass thrown back in jail. And don’t think I’ve seen the looks you’ve been giving me, looking at me like I’m some low class hooker you and your boys probably passed around during basic training.”

Now Steve was pissed, he knew that there were times that his misgivings about Faith had shown on his face but he had never thought of her like that. And the fact she thought he was the type to pass a woman around ....

“Now you listen to me I know that....”

Suddenly Steve found himself not just leaning against the table but actually leaning back over it and with a very angry knife wielding lady glaring at him. 

“You. Don’t. Know. Shit” 

Suddenly they heard a door open and Faith immediately stepped back allowing Steve to try himself out. Faith simply turned her head and stared at the intruder, not realising how heavy her breathing had become. 

“If you two lovebirds are done with the foreplay we’ve got some decisions to make.”

Whistler and Blade strolled in like they had just gone out for a pack of cigarettes rather than meeting with the head of a vampire nation. “We got ourselves a real humdinger, the vamps want are help to take out these Reapers. Want Blade here to lead a bunch of rednecks that were suppose to wax his hairy ass.” 

“Shit. You’re going to do it even though you know they’re going to try and turn you into buffet as soon as your backs are turned?”

“If they didn’t need us they wouldn’t ask, besides give us a chance to see how it works at the top level. Maybe leave them with a couple of souvenirs before they realise we’ve hightailed out of there. And there expecting you to help as well, seems there curious as to where you fit into things “

“Well I guess if B could work Angel we should be able to pull this off.”

“But not without getting the green light from Fury.” Added in Steve getting the feeling he was going have to play the part of reason in this group.

“Fair enough but don’t take too long where meeting there people tonight ,if he starts acting like a bureaucrat tell him this is the best chance you have of finding out what happened to your people.”

Steve and Faith nodded promising to be back in time and to bring information on Eli Damaskinos’ familiar Karel Kounen.

¬¬¬Back at S.H.I.E.L.D  
“So what do you think?”

Steve and Faith looked at each other.

As soon as they had got back they had reported what they knew and handed over a copy of the DVD to Olivia and the rest of the IT team to blow and see what they could get from it. They were now back in the conference room along with Fury, Clint, Natasha, Karen and Tony. Faith wondered briefly where Phil and Maria where, guessing they had probably volunteered for some hair- brained mission if it meant keeping away from the Metal Vibrator aka Tony Stark. 

“As much as I think it is a bad idea we did give Blade our word that we will help them out. Hopefully are presence will stop this ‘Bloodpack’ from turning on him when they have a chance. Plus I believe these Reapers pose a real threat to the American public”

“You know me boss give me sword and make sure there is some food around when I get back and I’m all good. ... Plus what Steve said” added in Faith mentally kicking herself ‘God dam it why can’t I grow up? I’m playing with a big leagues now and I still sound like I’m SunndyD.’

“I intend to agree, as much as I wish we could handle it ourselves, the fact of the matter is that when it comes to the supernatural we are still very much in the learning stage. However” Fury added as he leaned back in his chair, hands pressed together “that does not mean we don’t have equipment that can help you out, even if it is just an improvement on the tried and true.”

“In other words he means you have me” butted in Tony picking up a bag from the floor and dumping it on the table with a clang. With a flurry he zipped it open and pulled out a broadsword, he started to make a show pulling it out of its scabbard but Faith grabbed it out of his hands like kid grabbing at candy. Tony just blinked ‘Wasn’t she on the other side of the table?’ Tony looked up and suddenly realised she was actually standing ON the table.

Totally oblivious to everyone around her Faith pulled the blade, dropping the scabbard onto the table. Checking over the blade she started to make a series of increasingly complex moves, only coming to a stop when she suddenly realised where she was.

“Show off” commented Natasha

“Jealous” asked Clint

“Taste” snapped back Natasha

A very red faced Faith picked up the scabbard and hopped off the table in front of Tony. Make show of being nonchalance she looked around and shrugged “What? Had to see if it was balanced and stuff. Besides no one’s ever given me my own sword before.” Despite herself she could not hide the slight wistfulness in her voice. It was the coolest thing anyone had given her and that included Diane, hell it was nearly the only things she had ever been given period.

“That sword just likely everything else in that bag is the property of SHIELD not yours.” Stated Fury.  
Faith stared at him for a second “Fine, whatever.” She turned back to Tony “You did something to the blade didn’t you? And I’m not talking about the swirl running each side ”

Tony nodded impressed that she had noticed. “The blade is made of second grade adamantium, one of the strongest substances on earth. Stronger then the titanium that your friend Blade apparently uses. Though I admit I did steal his idea of etching it with acid. As for the ‘swirls’” he said while running is finger down the entwined lines “one line is silver and the other is iron, not the easiest thing to do on adamantium even in straight lines. But” sighing dramatically “being a genius and all I do love a challenge, plus straight lines on a blade seemed so ... common.”

“Damn T you do not how to give the best toys.” Said Faith while putting it back in the scabbard. “Now what about Steve, I know he isn’t your type but did you bring him anything, I don’t want him to feel left out. “

“No we can’t have that, well for this anyway. If you’re interested in seeing how I made the sword I could...”

“I would be.” Everyone turned at looked at Steve “Interested that is.” He said shuffling slightly in his seat. Tony kept his face straight but there was a twinkle in his eye. Natasha and Clint shared a brief look out of the corner of theirs. 

“Well then,” said Tony clapping his hands together. He moved back to the bag and brought out two short swords that he slid across the table to Steve. “As you can see I went for a slightly older style for yourself, it seemed fitting. Same details as with Faith’s sword, silver and iron on top of second grade adamantium.” Reaching into the bag he also pulled out several knifes giving two to Faith and sliding the other two to Steve. “The bayonets are titanium while the smaller knives are simple steal with silver engraving, considering you guys will quietly literally throwing them away I thought there was no need for the more expensive stuff.”

Faith just nodded, looking at the blades like they were made out of gold, Steve looked at them like he was trying to figure out what the hell he had gotten into.  
“Get some sleep both of you, you’re going to need it.” Ordered Fury. “ Tomorrow night you’re going hunting and everything about how this organisations participates in the supernatural world will change.”

London, England  
Quentin Travers was sitting at his desk with his morning cup of Earl Grey, going through what he needed to do for the day. There was a werewolf pack in Australia, a cult in Wisconsin of all places who seemed to believe Ares was a demon that they could bring back to this dimension. Then there was the very concerning knowledge that his golf handicap had been sliding over the last couple of months.

His musing was put aside by the ringing of his phone something which caught him by surprise as very, very, few people had his direct dial. 

“Quentin Travers here.”

“Is there something you wish to tell me Quentin?”

Suddenly his last round at St Augusts was not that important “No nothing at all to report, none of our teams or sources have stumbled across any of your activities in over 2 months.”

“And the slayers?”

“No change, Ms Summers is still in Sunnydale and Ms Lehane is still in jail.”

“I am disappointed Quentin I thought you kept track of your charges more diligently.”

A very cold shiver ran down his spine. “Sir I can assure you neither...”

“Faith Lehane is currently in New York, she has made contact with the daywalker.”

“That is not possible! We have bribed the deputy warden to kept us up to date on any developments with Ms Lehane, in fact I have his last update on my desk.”

“Either your source is lying to you Mr Travers or you are lying to me, I hope for your sake and the sake of your organisation that it is not the latter.”

The change to his last name to did not go un-noticed. “I can assure you Eli Damaskinos that I am living up to my end of the agreement. I will send a team to investigate and to debrief our source face to face.”

“I would be quick about it Mr Travers, her presence may be useful to us for the moment but if she does cause problems we will be expecting compensation for any losses we incur.”

Quickly he tried to work out how much time he could buy for himself. “We do not currently have any teams in the US, if she is out of prison I should have information for you concerning how and why within the next 72 hours.”

“See that you do. Goodbye Mr Travers.”

He was still listening to the dead line when he hit the intercom. “Mrs Pound please get Mr Roberts on the line immediately.”


	5. 3 Ring Circus

“Maybe this Fury guy should change his name to Chicken. Think they’ll show?”

Blade and Whistler were waiting outside the warehouse at the allocated hour that the first of their new ‘colleagues’ were supposed to turn up. They were both having major doubts about working with two groups of unknowns especially when they worked for organisations with their own agenda.

The car that dropped them off may have screamed Feds but the two atleast had the sense to dress down. Steve looked like he had just come off the farm with jeans, plaid shirt and a brown leather jacket. Faith on the other hand looked like she was about to hit the town with a black singlet, leather pants and jacket. Both were carrying bags which Blade prayed contained some kind of body armour, he soo did not want have to tell some wannabe matster spy that he just got two of his aces killed.

“Well don’t you too look smart. But you seriously need to rethink your transportation." He turned to Steve. "And what the hell you got on your back? A shield?”  
Steve did not even bother to look apologetic “Yes.” 

That stumped them, till Whistler spoke up. “Didn’t realise we were going to a renaissance fair. Come on get in here, they should be here soon.

Faith and Steve went inside dropping their gear on one of the tables. They had wanted to get in early in order to get suited up as they were still not sure if they had been busted as not one of the group. 

“Any luck finding out about the fang wannabe Karel Kounen?” Asked Whistler as Steve and Faith made themselves at home.

Leaning against the table Faith didn't even try to hide her disgust. “The motherfucker works for Wolfram and Hart, should have known those shits would have something to do with keeping them off the Council’s radar” 

Whistler snorted “Just cause you have a beef with a law firm doesn't make everyone working for them evil.”

“It does when the three senior partners are actually demons pulling strings from another dimension.”Faith looked at the stunned faces surrounding her suddenly finding herself with information that no one else did. She had to admit it felt kind of good.

“Technically it is the Wolf, the Ram and the Heart. They got their asses handed to them thousands of years ago, probably by a Slayer like me.” Blade rolled his eyes behind his glasses as Faith threw them a smirk “And now a bunch of lawyers are doing their dirty work for them so they can try and get back in. The real fucked up thing is that most of them are human not demons pretending to be.”

“Does Fury know about this?” asked Steve, evil human organisations where much more in his comfort zone.

Faith scrunched her brow “Not sure actually, I guess I just assumed he did. But even so I doubt there is much he can do about it, I mean it is a big law firm and I’m sure they've got all sorts of politicians and shit in their back pocket.”

“Well this is all very illuminating but doesn't change didly squat with what is about to happen. You two better get geared up the vamps should be here soon.”

Nodding Faith unzipped her bag and pulled out her broad sword, bayonet, and then with some hesitancy her M27 IAR. Steve looked over as she eyed her weapon. It was still a bit hard for him to comprehend how someone who was such a natural shot could look at a gun like a janitor looking at a pair of overalls covered in sewage. She had described how the Slayer was built to go hand to hand and how using guns almost seemed like cheating, not mention it being drummed to her head early on that they were basically useless.

Then considering how he was now looking at his swords he really should not judge.

Whistler and Blade looked at them from Blade’s room

Blade was the first to express his feelings about the situation. “I’m not sure these two are quite up to this yet, they seem a bit green. It’s a hell of a risk bringing them into all this Reaper shit.” 

“Least we know that they’re not going to stab us in the back unlike the blood suckers, their boss might though.”

Blade just grunted “I’m more worried about either of them accidentally shooting me while we do this, we’ll worry about their boss later.” 

20 minutes later  
“Hello sweet cheeks.”

Faith and Steve looked up from the table, they had found themselves in a uncomfortable silence for the last 5 minutes while waiting for their ‘allies’ to show up.

What Faith saw did not really impress her, it looked like the freak brigade from the circus. The guy who spoke was a bald headed guy who looked like he would be more at home at Klan meeting.

“Ain’t nothing sweet about me sugar.” Said Faith as she got off the table, M27 held loosely in her hand. “You on the other hand look as cute as a poodle.” 

The guy growled and led his merry band of 6 in.

Looking at them Steve could not help but think back to his own little band of misfits the Howlers. They were also a diverse bunch but even they looked more respectable then this bunch. But he was shrewd enough to put aside his misgivings and to recognise that this was still a very dangerous group of individuals they were going to be working beside.

Faith threw her head over shoulder. “YO BLADE! The Mug pack are here.”

“Cute, I take it your the funny one of the duo while Captain Plywood over there is the straight one.” Baldy leaned forward and took a sniff. “Though from the smell of both of you I’m not sure even your fellow humans would call you human. You’re both mutants are you? Man I wouldn’t drink your blood if you where the last people on earth. Probably end up with hands the size of grape fruit or green fur or something.”

“Glad to see everyone is getting along.” Snarled Blade coming down the stairs, his eyes sweeping over the people he was suppose to lead into battle.

Faith was still wearing the leather pants but had switched to plain black jacket over what looked like some kind of stab proof vest underneath. Her bayonet and two silver stakes where on a belt around her waist while Blade could see the outline of her Colt and her knife in a double shoulder holster. Steve was wearing a brown jacket out of the same material over what looked like proper bullet proof vest. Same set up around the waist while a gun and extra clips in his double shoulder holster. 

Their swords, guns and Steve’s still covered shield where lying on the table. 

As for the Bloodpack, what the fuck is this the leftover freaks from a bust circus? 

Nyssa does the introductions “Blade, meet the Bloodpack this is Reinhardt. That's Snowman, Lighthammer, Priest, Chupa and Verlaine.”

Reinhardt advanced until he and Blade were nose to nose.

Faith started to tense up, hand reaching into her jacket for her knife as she begins to edge forward only to be stopped by the back of Steve’s hand 

“Heah me and the gang are wandering” says Reinhardt sounding suspiciously sincere.

“What is that?”

Reinhardt leans towards Blades ear “Can you blush?”

Faith bursts out laughing all thoughts of reaching for her weapon forgotten as she almost spends over double. It had been so long since she had laughed that the craziness of the situation threatened to overwhelm her.

“Doesn’t say much when even your own crew gets the joke.” Said Reinhardt trying not to look confused.

Faith dried her eyes “Don’t get ahead of yourself your no Chris Rock. It’s just funny that even as a vamp you're fucking pathetic enough to play the race card. Bet you where one of the good old boys before you got turned weren’t you? Realised the whole deliverance routine wouldn’t go down to well in the big sticks so got yourself all leathered up.”

Reinhardt snarled “And what corner did you drag your ass off, what your pimp decided you had gotten a bit to used up to be of any good?”

Now it was Whistler making with the human barricade as both Steve and Faith started to make their way forward. 

“Enough.” Commanded Assyan “Whether we like it or not we are on the same team. For now at least.”

Blade flashed a broad smile. “That where on your wrong where not on the same team.” Stretching his arms out wide “You’re on MY team.” 

“Is that a fact.” Said Reinhardt stepping back towards Blade.

Blade chuckled “I get it you've been training two years to take me out.” Shuddering exuberantly “Now here I am oohh so exciting. “

Blade pulls out one of his silver stakes. In response, the vampires reach for their weapons. But Blade merely twirls it around his fingers. Then held its sharp end to his chest.

“Here’s your chance Adolf, chance to be the hero for all vampires.”

Reinhardt looks to Nyssa, uncomfortably. Every ounce of him wanted to end this fucker but he knew that was off the cards at the moment.

“What are you looking at her for do you need permission?”

Recognising Blade was doing the whole whose- the-alpha-dog thing Faith decides to join in “What’s wrong big guy, worried mummy will take away your toys if you misbehave?” 

Blade twirls the stake around and slaps Reinhardt on the chek. In return the vampire just stares at him like a deer in headlights.

“What's wrong, Reinhardt? You need a fucking manual?” 

“Enough both of you.” Stepped in Steve. “We are done here, if you two want to duke it out fine but do it after the job is done.” He then turned to Nyssa. “Blade may be the running quarterback but for the moment you’re the one calling the play. These are your people the Reapers are hunting, if there are as many of them as you think there are they will be looking at hitting target rich environment if they haven’t done so already.” 

Nyssa stared at him for a second, one part of her brain coming up with a answer while another part filing away that this Steve Rogers certainly talked like he had military experience. 

 

“The House of Pain."

 

They stood on the rooftop looking acoss the street at an apparently abandoned building.

“How can you tell its one of yours?” Asked Blade not seeing the usual signs of it being a vamp pad

Nyssa handing a pair of thermal glasses to Blade who quickly saw the vampire symbol written on the wall.

“Cute.”

“We had to change our security due to your activities ”

”May I have a look?” Asked Steve who was still getting his head around the leap in technology from his day.

"Look to the right of the door.”

Steve did as he was told silently thinking he had to have a word with S.H.I.E.L.D’s surveillance department. Shaking his head as he could not help but think what he could have done against Hydra if he had half the equipment they had available today. But then again considering what Hydra was able to come up with maybe it was good thing it wasn't available back then.

Blade offered the glasses to Faith but she shook her head, She didn't need any fancy glasses to know what was in that building. The idea of some many vampires in one place scared the crap out of her. Which she thought in a moment of clarity was actually a good thing as it was not all that long ago that she would have seen it as the perfect opportunity to end her misery. “I hope you’re not planning on all of us strolling in there, you guys and Blade may be okay but there is no way the rest of us are getting out of there in one piece no matter how tight a leach you put everyone in their on.”

Nyssa raised an eyebrow; her father had instructed her to keep an eye on the Faith and Steve, he was convinced that they were working for a separate organisation, something which she agreed with. But she also got the impression he was withholding information from her. She cleared her thoughts, if her father did not believe she did not need to know the information then she did not need to know or did not deserve to.

”The humans will stay here and keep an eye out. The Reapers have never hit anywhere this big before but it would not be hard for them to do so if they snuck in one at a time rather then attacked as a group.”

Faith was tempted to say they should just blow the bloody building up but she kept quiet storing it as something to consider later once this craziness was out of the way. She would have been happy to know that the others were having the same kind of thoughts.  
Steve was the first to break the silence “Faith and I will take the over watch. Scud and Whistler can keep an eye on ground level on in the van.”

Blade shook his head. “You take the over watch with Whistler, Scud and Faith are in the van. Are we clear?”  
Steve held his gaze for a second then nodded his head in agreement ”We're clear.”

“So how long you and the boy scout been together?” Scud had been trying to chat Faith up for the last couple of minutes. But for one reason or another Faith found herself not in the mood to play along. The fact that he was being a complete pig with the White Castle burgers didn't help either.

“About a month.“ She replied nonchalantly with her arms resting on the headrests keeping a watch while Scud handled the electronics. The constant vibe she was getting from the building was starting to get her on edge. She had heard of vampires getting groups in their 20's or even 30's but never had she heard of enough to fill out a entire club! She didn't know if should curl into a ball or call Buffy and ask what sort of rocket launcher they used on the Judge. A flame thrower would be pretty cool as well.

“Surveillance this is Overwatch do you read.”

Faith would have rolled her eyes at the unnecessary callsign but she heard the urgency in Steve’s voice.

“This is Surveillance, apart from obvious callsigns what’s up.”

“We we've spotted en... Reaper activity away from your position. Going to investigate.”

“Alright but Steve watch yourself, hate to tell Fury I lost his star player.”

“You too.”

Despite herself Faith could not help but feel a twang of concern for her new partner. She tried to clear her mind but as she did she started to get a very bad vibe on her Slayer radar.

“Why did you switch jackets?” Scud asked randomly trying to pull on his limited conversation skills.  
Faith tugged at her jacket and looked out the front window with narrowed eyes. “Apparently this is some sort of extra tough, flame retardant material. Somehow Tony got managed to get a dyed version of it for Steve and I, usually it is a kind of silver colour. Besides ...”, Faith and made her way to the other end of the van, eyes scanning out the back windows. "Like hell I’m going to risk my new leather jacket getting ripped up by some zombie- vampire, Freddy Kruger wannabe.”

“You see something?” All thoughts of the feed out of his mind as he started to worry about his own survival. 

“I think we’re going to have company.” Whispered Faith moving away from the back doors she drew her gun.  
She did not know if it was the best ‘tactical move’ but the slayer in her was screaming for her to get room to manouvre. Except she couldn't see anything to manouvre against.

“Faith? JESUS!” Scud dropped back onto his ass as Faith swung around pointing the gun towards him.

But what he should have been worried about was the Reaper above him, perched on the edge of the van like a vulture on a branch. Faith already had its heart lined up in her sites as it sprung off the back, as she had been trained she gave the trigger two quick squeezes. 

Click. Click.

Faith didn't have the luxury to look shocked, the gun had not even hit the ground by the time the Reaper had reached her out stretched arms. She had already start to move side on and using his momentum against him she flung him into the ground so hard he literally bounced. By the time her left knee had sunk into his stomach her stake was already out and on its way to his heart.  
But instead of ploughing through his ribcage Faith hit the biological equivalent of a concrete wall. Her stake had not even gone in far enough to stay in his chest when she let go it just rolled off. Had she not had her left hand pressing down the Reaper would have had her by the neck as she was still trying to process what had happened.

Rolling away her hands went for her knife and bayonet before she was even fully standing up. Suddenly she was aware that the Reaper had friends.

“Come on!” yelled Scud who started to fire over her head into the gathering horde from the van. Faith began to step backwards and pivoted to her right like a matador and bought her blades down and across the back of the charging Reaper sending it to the ground. Another Reaper charged only to impale his head on Faith’s knife, her eyes widened as it began to scream in agony, ash appearing around the blade like embers from a burning log. She put it out of its misery by cutting off his head and then using the first Reaper as a spring board she rolled into the van and shut the doors locking them.

“Get us the fuck out of here!”

“I’m trying!” Scud had clambered over his seat and started to turn on the engine only to have another Reaper jump on the hood. Scud put the foot down but pinning it against the back of another parked car just pissed it off. Putting the van in reverse he made to move out but ended up going all the way to the back to give them breathing room from the horde that was gathering at the alley entrance. 

“What are you doing?” Asked Faith grabbing his shoulder from behind the chair. 

“We've got UV lights on this thing. I’ll light these fuckers up.” Scud flicked a switch but nothing happened.

“Oh shit.” Scud scuttled under the passenger seat and started playing with wires. The Reapers however where not going to wait around, Faith had hardly made it to into Scuds vacated seat when they where swarmed. And they seemed really interested with her.  
The side window was the first to go, a female Reaper started to push itself in groping for Faith its mouth open and three prong tongue out, only to be cut off as Faith rammed her knife up and out the top of its head. The Reaper made a gurgling a sound even as Faith removed the knife and shoved it back out into the masses, leaving a small amount of ash hanging in the air.

“Got you you son of bitch.” Faith blinked as the lights finally went on forcing the Reapers to back off and out of the alley way but it was pretty obvious they did not want to go. She wasn't going to just sit there and let them lumber away. The first one was so intent getting away it did not even notice that the burning light was being blocked, the second one though had got away just far enough to get its senses.

And the bastard was fast, keeping Faith between himself and the vans light behind her. Faith bent back to get out of a swipe at her head, leaving her stomach open. Her jacket and vest took most of the blow but she still ended up with some jagged slices across her abdomen. 

Thinking it had an opening the Reaper tried a open handed haymaker only for it to be stopped by Faith’s bayonet followed by her knife thrust through his right eye. “You think you can take me.” She hissed, eyes blazing. “I’m a Slayer motherfucker.” She withdrew both blades from its flesh and crossed them over through its neck.

Faith took some deep breaths, she opened her jacket to look at her cuts.

“You alright?”

She looked up to see Steve and Whistler heading towards her, the rest of the Reapers having vanished off into the night.

“5 by 5. I wasted three of the bastards how did you do?”

They came level with her “We found one stuck in culvert a block away. Left it alive so we can have a proper look at the thing. From what G I Joe here tells me you weren't the only ones to have some fun. Is Scud still in that scrap heap?”

Faith nodded his head “Think it’s time you boys scrapped together for a upgrade the wiring in that thing nearly cost us our necks.”

Whistler grunted and moved towards the van.

They watched as headed off. "He's a real bunch of flowers isn't he?"

Steve noticed where her hand was. "You sure your all right? Here let me..." he started to reach towards her but she pulled away.

"I said I'm 5 by 5 okay! Jesus."She looked away, not capable of accepting the look of concern on his face of his face. Nothing good had ever happened to the few who had looked at her like that previously.

Steve stilled "I know what it means Faith, you forget I was around when the phrase was being used by radio operators." He said quietly.

She chuckled "Yeah kind of forgot about that." She looked over at him and her face softened. "Thanks for giving a shit but seriously I am okay, Slayer here, it'll heal in a couple of hours."

Steve nodded and they shared a comfortable silence together till Steve remembered something."I believe this is yours." He said handing her back her gun that he had found on the ground.

"You left the safety on".


	6. Down the rabbit hole

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thought best put a disclaimer here as I pull some dialogue straight from Blade 2. Which I own no rights to or the characters in it.

They all crowded around the table as Nyssa started cutting into the Reaper after she had finished examining its head.

The whole thing was putting Faith on edge again. She knew the basics of what happened at the Initiative (Something else she had to find out what Fury knew about) and seeing Nyssa cut into that thing she couldn’t help but wonder where she got that skill from. Not to mention how she got so good at all the doctor babble . “You look like you’ve done this before .”

Nyssa looked up, her scalpel still in the Reaper’s chest. “I have been around a long time, some of us need more to do then just feed and fight. If I am to serve at my father’s side then it is important that I learn skills which can progress are race.”

“Progress to what exactly?” Asked Steve quietly, having picked up on Faith’s line of thought, his own trailing back to his confrontations with Red Skull. 

Nyssa head swivelled to look at him. “If you are suggesting that these Reapers where made by us then you are mistaking, we would never create something like this that could destroy are race.”

Faith shrugged “No one said anything about you creating Reapers on purpose but it wouldn’t be the first time a science experience has come back to bit someone in the ass.”

“This isn’t one of them.” With that Nyssa dismissed them and got back to dissecting the Reaper.

Everyone crowded around as she cracked it open giving them all a chance to see a Reaper's innards.

“Ho-lee shit” said Scud

“I've never seen anything like this, the Reapers are as different from us vampires as we are from any of you.” Nyssa said probing the one of the grey blobs that passed a organ. “It's almost as if the virus is re-wiring their bodies, creating new, parasitic organs which consume the old ones.”

“Like cancer but with a purpose.” Stated Blade causing both Faith and Steve to look at him with growing respect, both beginning to realise that he was much more than just muscle.

From the way Nyssa was looking at him she was coming to same conclusion. Faith felt a twang of jealousy but it quickly passed, yeah Blade was all manners of screw-able but it was pretty obvious who he had eyes for. Besides she thought , flicking a look at Steve, maybe it was time she actually looked for something a bit more than a rumble in the sheets.

“Exactly, look at the digestive system it's been drastically simplified yet at the same time super charged. And this...” pulling back the lungs to show the calcium mass surrounding the heart and giving it a tap with her scalpel. “Is the heart completely encased in bone.” She tries to cut into the bony shell and the scalpel snaps.

“It’s not completely encased.” Blurts out Faith causing all eyes to once again divert to her. Seriously this being the centre of attention thing was starting to bug her out, it was kind of cool though. “I killed one of them by stabbing its heart though its back, I didn’t even use my bayonet with its silver I just used my knife.”

This really got everyone’s attention.

“You’re full of shit. If silver has no effect on these things then a normal blade wouldn’t.” Scoffed Reinhardt, not even bothering to look at the Slayer. 

“Unless it is not a normal blade.” Nyssa rose to her feet. “Can I see your knife please.”

Hesitating slightly Faith pulled out her knife and handed it to Nyssa. “Just don’t think you can run off with it.”

Completely zoned out Nysaa studied the knife then slowly lifted it to her nose and sniffed the blade then blew on it gently. Her eyes opening in surprise as she did so. “This blade is made out of vibranium, a metal almost impossible to get outside of Wakanda. “ Nyssa kneeled back down beside the Reaper and gently presses it down on one of the organs. The result was instantaneous the body leaped like it had been shot with electricity. It took three of them to hold it down till it stopped jerking.

“Jesus Christ.” Whispered Scud.

Blade thinks for a second before turning to Nyssa. “How quickly can you get hold of this stuff?” 

Her mind started to race through what she knew was in their possesion. “It is very rare but I do know where I can get some. It would not be enough to create blades but there will be enough to give everyone a clip of ammo.”

Blade nods. “It’ll have to do as we can’t afford to wait, you have 6 hours to do what you can then we hunt.”

“You gotta be fucking joking!” Exclaimed Chuppa as he figured out what Blade was saying. “No fucking way am I going hunting in daylight, even if we are in tunnels.”

“We have to use every advantage we have” Said Steve, coming to stand beside Blade. “And right now the only ones we have is the vibranium and sunlight. As we are going to be in tunnels exposure to the later is going to be minimal anyway. You cannot tell me that a group as organised as yours have has not figured out a way of atleast minimising the damage.”

“I’m not taking orders from my food.” Snarled Reinhard making his way towards Steve and Blade. Suddenly he lets out a yell of pain, looking down he sees some kind of flashing device sticking out of his chest.

He looks up at a smirking Blade. “I just shoved an explosive charge into your chest full of silver nitrate. I'll be keeping the detonator on me at all times and needless to say it is rigged to blow if anyone tampers with it. You so much as look at me or my people crosswise and we’ll be using your chest as a bowl.”

Nyssa did not raise and objection, there was no point as the damage was done and she didn’t particularly like Reinhard anyway. “I’ll work on the bullets and I think I can also bottle vampire pheromones in order to draw them to us. But we still need an effective way to kill them, I doubt even a vibranium bullet could get though to their heart.”  
“I’ve had this idea about creating a kind of UV grenade.” Said Scud, once again in full ego mode. “It won’t be easy but we have enough material lying around to create a whole lot of them.”

This earned an appreciative grunt from Whistler. “It’s been tried before kid but it’s worth a shot. If we have enough we could even create a bomb, if you can draw enough of them in using Nyssa’s juice it may be the only way to put a real hole in their numbers.”

Nodding his head in agreement Blade looked around at assembled hunters.. “You all know what you need to do. I have a stockpile of tracer rounds in case I ran out of silver ones so we’ll load up on those; I’ll see you all in 6 hours.”

They moved as silently as possible through the tunnel and slowly Faith got the feeling they where no alone. She could not place what it, was definitely not a vampire or Reaper yet at the same time did not feel like a demon. Just as she sensed whatever it was back off the feeling she got back in the ally before the Reapers attacked came back full bore. Steve paused for a second when he heard the sound of her flipping off the safety and then quickly did the same. Soon they came to a Y intersection and without even looking what was around the corner Faith pulled a frag grenade. The noise from the blast had not even fully dissipated before she turned and let out her first three shot burst. 

Steve rushed to flank her, almost bumping into her as she started to back up. He quickly saw 30 Reapers quickly making their way towards them, clambering over the bodies of their injured brethren. Steve quickly started to join Faith in back peddling firing short bursts as they went but it soon became evident that even the tracer rounds where doing little to hold them back.

“Contact, we’ve made contact! Retreating with thirty Reapers on our tail.”

“Follow the plan and don’t let them bite you.” Came the reply over the earpiece.

”No shit Sherlock.” She cocked her head at Steve, “I should have brought a shotgun” she yelled over the din.

“Only thing that might slow these things down is a flamethrower.” Steve yelled back as almost on queue Faith’s gun clicked empty quickly followed by his own. “Fallback now!”

Steve and Faith bolted down the tunnel, frantically changing magazines as they went. Faith shifted her M27 to her left hand as she fired behind her with her pistol which Steve quickly started to emulate. Up ahead they saw Blade, Nyssa and Reinhard standing in some kind of opening. Dropping their hand guns when they emptied they shifted back to their main guns just as they came to stop beside the others. Finding themselves in the middle of a large juncture point for several tunnels they could all hear the sound of feet and hands scrapping on concrete coming from nearly all sides.

“Fuck this.” Muttered Faith who flipped her gun to full auto and started laying a continues stream of fire into their recently vacated tunnel. As soon as her gun ran dry she shoved in her vibranium clip and started to make her way back towards the storming masses.

“Where’s the bomb?” Yelled Steve over his shoulder as he also switched over to his vibranium clip.

“ I left it down the a tunnel, had to drop it as those bastards where all over me. “ Reinhardt snarled making Faith wanting to facepalm herself, what the fuck where they thinking giving it to him in the first place?

“Give me the pheromones.” Nyssa threw over the bottle and Blade started spraying himself with it.

“Rest of you get in that tunnel.” And with that he speed back into the fray heading towards the discarded bomb.

“What are you doing?” Shouted Steve at Blade’s back while Nyssa and Reinhardt quickly did as advised, leaving Faith and Steven out in the open.

“I’m not running and leaving him.” Finishing off her clip Faith turned her gun on its side and threw it like a spear. The blade caught an approaching Reaper though the throat, the force was enough to rip it’s head off. Had he made it pass her throw he would have found himself beheaded by her sword she had now drawn. As she backed up towards the tunnel that Blade had gone down she saw the huge number of Reapers still heading their way.

“Faith we have leave him, get over here. “ Automatically she scampered back to stand alongside Steve who had drawn the sword on his side and unslung his shield. They moved back into the entrance that Nyssa and Reinhardt had run down. Like rocks in a rising tide the Reapers swarmed around them, many heading past them towards the fleeing vampires but still a good number stayed to try and feed on the succulent morsels at hand. Due to the size of Faith’s blade the two of them could not fight side by side so she stood slightly in front of Steve, trusting him to keep them off her back.

Faith was in her element swinging from left to right, almost going in complete circles as she slashed at every limb and head in reach. Steve was not doing too bad (well at least from his view) his shield proving quite useful not only for defence but as a second weapon, managing to use it to decapitate several Reapers. He knew from experience when he was about to get overwhelmed and this definitely feeling like one of those times.

“Ahh fuck. “ Faith kept swinging but Steve could see the gash large on her shoulder blade.

Realising it was time to get more on the defensive he called out to her. “Faith get her to my left.” Faith plunged her sword through two reapers and quickly made her way to Steve to his right. Going around his back she grabbed Steve’s second sword he had attached to his back while at the same time drawing out her knife.

Steve moved his shield slightly to his left to give Faith a bit more cover but it proved unnecessary because at that moment a blue wave swept towards them. Instinctively Steve grabbed hold of Faith and took them both to their knees as he raised his shield to protect them as the wave rolled past. He peered over his shield and looked around to find themselves surrounded by bodies made of ash. Suddenly he found himself back in Italy looking at the aftermath of an attack on a Hydra tank plant, looking at the remains of men burnt alive after he blew up the fuel depot. 

“If this is your way of trying to cope a feel it’s no wonder your single.” Steve looked down at Faith and slowly removed his arm. As he stood up the remains of a Reaper slid off his shield and scattered onto the floor.

”We never asked if that amount of UV would have any effect on humans.” 

She smirked, “keep telling yourself that.” Steve looked over his shoulder as Faith slid his back up sword back into its sheath, his back tensing a bit at the feel of her fingers on it. His eyes continued to follow her as she went in front of him to pick up her sword, eyeing it with a look of self-disgust. 

“I should never have bought this down here, it’s way too big to be fighting with in tunnels. It was stupid.”

Part of him wanted to agree but wisely Steve bit his tongue. “In the tunnels yeah but we would have needed it if we had been forced to make a stand out there.”

Shrugging her shoulders Faith put her sword back in its sheath. “Whatever, guess we better go see and happened to the big fella.»  
“Where going to need him, if the threat is over then so is this alliance and we're low on ammo.” Steve put his hand to his ear, keeping an eye down the tunnel in case Nyssa and Reinhardt doubled back. “Blade come in this is Steve do you copy over.”

“Save your breath he’s almost here. Though if we here going to go toe to toe with the Fang gang I want to atleast get my machine gun back first.” Steve nodded his head in agreement and both of them headed back to the entrance only to be meet by a running Blade. 

“You shouldn’t have thrown it away then.” They barely had time to register that he had said anything let alone shoved their hand guns into their chests before he was past them heading down the tunnel. “No time to go for it now we have to find the others.”

By the time they caught up with him he was helping Nyssa back to her feet, Reinhardt nowhere in sight. Faith couldn’t help but be slightly glad, for a vamp Nyssa was not too bad and who knew there may even be a chance to get her to swap sides. She was just beginning to wander what would happen if she introduced Nyssa to Angel when Blade’s body arched, his mouth making a slight gurgling sound. Faith only had a second to process this before she felt a quick pinch followed by pain, lots and lots of pain. She sunk to her knees, the last sound she heard before passing out was the faint burst of a machine gun beside her.

Steve had almost been standing directly behind Nyssa and Blade so he had time to bring up his shield and un-sling his gun. He did not even feel the barbs bounce of his shield before he opened up. To conserve ammo Steve switched the gun to single shot, as his opponent’s body armour was not designed to handle tracer rounds. As none of his assailants had proper guns it quickly turned into a slaughter. 

All this time Nyssa was lying prone on the floor avoiding the crossfire “Enough! Everyone seize fire.”

Despite still being out numbered Steve held his fire. He knew his clip was nearly empty and that his handgun was about the same. He was still trying to figure out how he was going to extract them from this when he felt a bite on his back and then, after a minute of pain, nothing.

Palm Springs Motel  
Los Angeles

The Council wet work team drove into the carpark and gingerly got out of the car. After the deputy warden could not help them they had gone to Angel Investigations to see what they could find out. As always things had gone pear shape, they had only just tied up Wealsey and the annoying Sunnydale vet when seemingly out of no where that mousy girl Winifred had appeared and rolled in a pair of stun grenades. As the team leader James Rogers got out his key to his room he could not help but shake his head in self disgust. All of his team where ex-military yet they had been taken out by some local hooligan and a girl who couldn’t weigh more the...  
His thought process was interrupted when he entered the room to find a man sitting on the chair with a guard each side. “Mr Rogers I presume. “ James froze for a split second before nodding his head in agreement. Not much else he could do as they obviously had the drop on him, besides he figured he may be able to get some answers himself.  
He chucked his keys onto the bed. “Take it you’re the one that walked off with our girl. Who squealed that we were here?”

“ You know I can’t confirm any information like that, please take a seat."» James was about to do so till he heard a crash come from his men’s room next door.

 _“ATF ! Put your hands up, put your hands up and get against the wall..»_ Turning around he stared at his intruders incredulously. “Don’t you realise who we are? You can’t arrest us we have diplomatic immunity!”

“Oh we know exactly who you are and your men will be released, we just want to make it clear that Miss LeHane is now effectively and employee of the US government and is hands off.”

James was so incensed it took a second for words to make it through the splutter. “That psychotic little bitch belongs to the Council not you Yanks. You have no idea what you are dealing with.”

“We are well aware of what she has done, in fact we probably no more then you. And last time I checked we are in America which makes both Miss LeHane and Miss Summers ‘Yanks’. I am sure both will be interested to know the council views them as property.”

The unknown puppet master leaned forward, his bald head glistening slightly in the light .”In fact I would say you are very lucky that Miss Summers has not agreed to let us pay her for the work she is doing. Though she has indicated she may change her mind, after all she does have a teenage sister to support and we would be willing to extend the agreement to include all of her group.” 

He got up, straightening his jacket and along with his entourage headed towards John and the door. “I would suggest that you arrange for someone to meet with her and her group to discuss your future relationship.” 

And with the gauntlet laid down the suits left leaving a rather stunned a James to figure out how he was going to explain all this to his boss.


	7. All hail the King

“Uhh .... Fuck me Daisy.” Faith moaned forcing her eye lids open. She looked around to find herself chained to a wall in what looked like a locker room, scratch that a shower block; generic white plastered walls and blue tiled floor. She almost wished she was still unconscious when she saw the drain between her feet. Trawling her eyes along with the floor they came to rest on a pair of feet above another drain.  
Faith could not help but chuckle, pleased that she would be the one to wake up first. “Yo Steve, STEVE!” She tried to reach across to but of course the chains where not long enough. Bracing herself she strained against the chains, eyes widening in surprise when they did not budge. Gathering herself she gave it another go, sweat starting to appear on her face. Suddenly she heard a cracking sound and the chains slackened slightly. Looking up she found that instead of the chains breaking two one meter chunks of concrete had moved out of the wall by only three inches! 

“You’ve got to be kidding.” She murmured, resting her head back against the wall. 

Eventually Steve starred to stir.

“Welcome back to the land of the living. Have a nice beauty sleep?”

“I’m fine Peggy thanks for caring.”  
At the sound of that name Faith stilled. Even in a place like SHIELD there was gossip; the exact nature of Steve's relationship with one of the organizations founding members being one of the juiciest. "I’m sorry your majesty that you had to wake up but this is no time to be having a fucking wet dream.”  
His head clearing Steve looked at Faith with guarded eyes. Not realising what he had said he mistook her hostility as an attempt to hide her concern about their situation. “It’s going to be okay Faith we’re going to get out of this.”

She just looked at him with a sad smile. “You really don’t have a clue do you?” 

He was saved from answering when the door slid open and in slithered what Faith guessed was suppose to be the head honcho Eli Damaskinos. To her he looked more like some loser in a Voldermont costume. On his heels was his pet human Karel Kounen looking like he was on his way to a board meeting rather than in a torture chamber and in turn behind him were two evil looking bastards with a trolley full of needles and cutting tools.

As the goons wheeled the trolley to a stop behind him the head of the Vampire Nation turned and faced his two prisoners.“I’m glad that you two have decided to join us, I cannot thank you enough for your help with our little problem.” 

‘God what is it with vampires and theatrics’ thought Faith. “Well if you’re so thankful then what the fuck are we doing chained against the wall? Is this supposed to be one of those tortoise and scorpion things?”

Eli Damaskinos smiled for a second, “An interesting analogy Miss Lehane, I see you learnt a thing or two in prison. However,” he said as he moved towards his captives, “unlike the scorpion we never hid our nature from you. You knew full well that we were going to turning on you, the fact that you where unprepared for it was just poor preparation on your behalf.”

They both could not help but flinch at that because he had been right. They had expected the vampires to make a move as they exited the sewers, not while they were still in them. Seeing this Eli Damascenes got a smug look on his face and moved till he was within arm reach of the two. “I honestly expected better of you Captain Rogers, but then again your companion is exceptionally...” he raised his shrivelled left hand and caressed Faith’s chin “...distracting”.  
She jerked her head hitting her head painfully against the wall. “Get your fucking hand off me or I swear to Christ when I get out of this I’ll ... I’ll cut your hands off, cover them in glue and shove them up your ass.”

“But then she opens her mouth.” He removed his hand and moved between the two, his eyes darting back and forth between them as he spoke. “Tell me truly how does it feel to work with someone you would not even give the time of day to, someone so beneath you even back when you where a nobody? And then there is her colourful criminal history, the assaults, the murders.” Eli Damascenes looked to Steve then back to Faith bending so close she could almost see his breath. “Tell me how many is it now Faith? Did they deserve it or were they innocent like that Professor?”

Faith could feel Steve’s shock even as she tried to burn holes in Eli Damascenes’ head with her eyes. She knew she could not risk turning her head or closing her eyes even for a second in case she broke down in front of them and she would not allow that, the slayer within her would not allow it. After all without her bravado, without her devil may care attitude, what was she? 

“Are we going to get with the torture already, getting kind of bored with the Doctor Phil treatment.”  
The chuckle she got in response did nothing to set her at ease. “Do not think of it as torture Faith, we are simply going to test your healing capabilities and then we are going to cut you and Captain Rogers apart to see how your bodies work. You may prove even more instrumental in completing our next stage of evolution then Blade.”  
Faith realised where this was all going. “You know what I am don’t you? My abilities come from magic you idiot. And they’ve been trying to recreate what they did to Steve for the last 70 years!”

“Oh I am well aware of what you are Slayer, I have been aware of your kind and the Watchers Council for quiet sometime. We do not share our demon counterpart’s stupid obsession with starting an apocalypse.”

Eli Damascenes use of the word completing had gotten Steve’s attention. Going through the various scenarios in his head he came to the obvious conclusion. “You created the Reapers didn’t you? The one we saw in the video was a test subject that got loose.”

“Is this true?” Nyssa was in the room with Priest standing behind her. “Did you really create the Reapers? Did you really do that to my brother? Your own son?”

Turning to her Eli Damaskinos and drew upon his sense of regalia. “You’re brother had the chance to lead are people into the future, you should be proud he was given the honour. Even if he was not destroyed in the tunnels the stain he has put on this house with his actions will soon be removed. And with what we learn from these two and Blade we will be able to start again. ” 

Before Nyssa could go further the sound of yells and gunfire could be heard from the floor below.  
“It seems your brother has arrived. Go and see too him, we will speak of your insolence later my daughter.” Turning back towards Faith. “Farewell Slayer it is time you went the way of your predecessors and your watcher, I am sure the heir to your abilities will be much more to everyone’s liking. I look forward to hearing about her exploits.”  
Turning to scientists he ordered them to start their work. 

“I am sorry father.” Eli Damaskinos turned back towards his daughter, his eyes widening as he felt something pierce his skin. “But this madness has to end.” And then he was no more.

Everyone looked in astonishment as Nysaa stood frozen in place, the only movement being the shake in her out stretched arm. Slowly she drew her sword level to her face before dropping it to the floor with a look of disgust.

“Mr Rogers and Ms Lehane I apologise for my father’s behaviour, you have fought honourable by our side and I will uphold the deal I made on his behest even if he did not intend to.” Turning to the scientists / tortures “ Get them down.”

Karel thought it best to interject. “My lady may I advise that you do not let these two go they are both very dangerous individuals.”

“You are not needed at the moment Mr Kounen. I will contact your office when I am ready to discuss are relationship.”

He looked at her sharply and then nodded his head. “Very well, my condolences on your lost but I must inform you that many of the agreements we had with your father were on a personal level and will need to be re-negotiated.”

Still shocked over what just happened Faith and Steve continued to stare at her, barely registering that Karel had left the room.  
Nysaa could not help but look at them with a sad smile. “It may be hard for you to believe even the vampire world has its rules. To have purposely taken an action which risked exposing are kinds existence or which could lead to our destruction is the worst crime for a vampire to commit. For him to do an experiment like that on another pure blood especially his own son...” 

“What about his wish to strengthen your race? You don’t agree with that?” Asked Steve while he rubbed his wrists where the shackles had bitten in. “What about your father’s vision of creating a better vampire?”

“I do not pretend to know if we always only walked in the night. But I know that if we walked during the day now it would only be a matter time before we were caught on camera feeding and are presence made public to the world.” Shaking her head she picked up her sword and put it in her sheath. “My father though he was helping us and we may have even survived but our society, our traditions would have been destroyed. Better to rule from the shadows then stand in full view on a podium.”

Listening to how she talked Faith could not help but here the underlying tone of defeat in her voice. “You know you’re pretty smart for a vampire. Look I know this demon vampire who got his soul back called Angel and he manages to control his thirst with animal blood. There’s no reason you can’t do the same. Hell with all the money you guys have...”

“I accepted what I was a long time ago Miss Lehane, I am not going to change. You are still my enemy and if we meet again then we will most likely fight to the death. Once you leave this building this truce ends, so take your people and go. You’ll find your equipment first door on your left.” 

Faith and Steve nodded and took their leave of the vampires only to find it would not be a simple case of walking out the door. They had barely made it to the first corner when two vampires barrelled into them. Instinctively Steve and Faith started to go hand to hand with them. As Faith threw her attacker off she saw him reaching for a gun. Taking two steps she flew at him feet first sending him crashing into the wall. Not giving him a second she corkscrewed and kicked him in the head. As he attempted to push off the wall Faith grabbed him from behind and using all of her slayer strength literally ripped his head off. Hearing a crack behind her she looked to see that Steve had dispatched his vampire in a similar fashion. 

Picking up the gun the vampire had dropped she threw it at Steve and headed back towards the corner. He frowned for a second but quickly followed her, checking the gun as he went. Looking around the corner Faith saw the path was clear and could make out the outline of the door on the left. Nodding at Steve she went to the right hand side door, keeping a look out as Steve stood to its left hand side. With his back against the wall he turned the door handle with his left hand, quickly kneeling as he heard the sound of a gun being cocked through the opening door.

The door was not even fully open when he saw his first target standing beside a table with what looked like his and Faith’s equipment on it. Shooting him twice in the head he quickly turned to a second target that had gotten so close to the door Steve could not even see his head. Steve fired and kept firing, getting to his feet and moving forward as his assailant’s body jerked with the impact of the bullets.

Steve knocked the assailant to the ground sending his gun spinning, turning around Steve saw his first target back on its feet, a fanged snarl on its face. Realising his mistake Steve quickly dropped his gun and dived for one of the unsheathed knives on the table. He was mid way through the air when he felt a hand grab hold of him from below. He just managed to reach one of the knives before he was dragged off the table. Seeing the human was distracted struggling with his comrade the vampire smiled. He made his way towards the fight on the ground when a noise behind him caused him to turn. He was just in time to see a fist followed by a mass of long brown hair come flying towards him. The force of the punch made him see stars, the force of the body that followed it forced him down onto the table. Still dazed he felt hands on his jacket and looked up to see a enraged woman dragging herself into a straddling position to bring her fist in line with his head. Whilest turning the vampire’s face into mush the Faith saw one of their Berettas on the table out of the corner of her eye. Switching to smashing the vampire’s head into the ground with her left hand she grabbed the gun with her right, took off the safety, and fired point blank into his already damaged face. Ignoring the scream coming from beneath her she put another round through his heart.  
Realising the silence from her partner she quickly clambered on to the table and looked over the side to see Steve on the floor grabbing his leg. “Jesus Steve you alright?”  
He grunted as he grabbed hold of the side of the table and pulled himself up. “I’m okay the guy just bit me in the leg.”  
Her face went white, she remembered Karen telling them how these vampires turned people through the venom in their teeth rather than by their blood. “Oh shit Steve you’ve been infected.”

He looked at her with horror and then grunted as she started shoving his equipment into his chest. “We have to get you out of here and back to Karen so she can give you the cure.” They quickly got their gear on and headed back out the door. 

They got to the staircase before they heard the sound of running feet coming up towards them. Motioning for Steve to get behind her Faith crouched and peered over the railing. As soon as she saw the three come into view she bought up her gun and started firing, rising to her feet and moving down the stairs as she did so. Steve kept his position covering their backs until he heard the firing stop. Gingerly he made his way down the stairs to join Faith on the landing, startled by the look of absolute horror on her face.  
Puzzled he followed she gave to rest on the three bodies sprawled across the stairs. “I ... I didn’t know. I thought that ... I thought...”  
Steve placed his hand on her shoulder. “I know Faith but you had no choice they would have killed both of us without a thought. Come on we need to keep moving before more of them come, we will talk about it later ok?”

Feeling numb Faith slowly followed him, her body shaking as she stepped over the bodies of the humans she had just killed. Making their way down to the next level they carefully exited the stairs, trying to adjust their eyes to the flickering light. It was obvious that there had already been a fight on this level, due to the bullet holes in the wall and the piles of ash onto the floor.

Hearing something Steve made a motion for them to stop. Pausing for a second he twirled around the corner, gun at his shoulder only to find himself so close to an arrowhead for a second he thought it was going to pierce his eye. 

He felt Faith breeze past his back and take up a position on his left. “Drop the bow bitch or I’ll put you down.”

“Now now there is no need for name calling.” Came a mocking voice to their left.

Faith turned to point her gun at the new player, a rather attractive guy a bit older then her. Noticing that his vest had a name tag with ‘Fuck you’ written on it. Faith made a big assumption and lowered her rifle. “I take it you guys are the ones responsible for the redecorating, Nightstalkers right?”

The goofy grin on his face reminded her for a second of Xander. “That would be us sweet cheeks. Word got to us that you guys where having a bit of a party, we thought we would drop in say hello.”

“This is not the time Hannibal.” Said the female Robin Hood whilst relaxing the bowstring and dropping her arms. “I’m Abigail, Fury told us where to find you, I guess he put a tracking device on you guys somewhere.”

Faith and Steve looked at each other, it was not a total surprise that Fury would do that but it was still not something they had not been aware of. Taking stock of the situation Steve cleared his throat, “We’re thankful for the assist but where no the only friendlies in the building. There could be as many as three others going by Blade, Spud and ... your dad Have  
you come across anyone else?”

The pair shook their heads. “The main party is probably going on at the top floor.” Piped in Hannibal while he checked the area.  
“We're not leaving here without the others.” Stated Faith, pulling out her mag and putting in a full one. “We going to take the stairs or go up in the elevator?” 

Steve thought about it, he knew it could be suicide to take the elevator when they didn’t know what was waiting for them. “I say the stairs, what floor are we on?”  
Before Abigail or Hannibal could answer, they heard the feint ping of an elevator opening up. As one they drew up their weapons and headed towards the sound. Faith and Steve in front while Abigail and Hannibal tried to match their pace, not knowing how the two liked to manoeuvre.

Coming around the corner they saw a battered Whistler and Blade checking out their surroundings. The four made their way towards the two arrivals.

“Abby what the hell are you doing here?” Grunted Whistler, sporting what looked like a broken nose.

That just earned him a look and a deadpanned response .“Great to see you too dad.” 

Blade sniffed the air. “Which of you have been bitten?”

“That would be Steve; Karen has the cure back at HQ so we need to get out of her.” Faith tried to sound neutral but the concern in her voice was obvious.  
That got a chuckle from Whistler “Karen Jensen? Hmm wandered where she had run off to.”

“Well this is fun but can we leave the building of death already? I have to catch up on my cartoons.” Quipped Hannibal, resulting in a groan from everyone else present. “What?”  
Shaking his head Whistler made a note to himself to find out what his daughter had gotten herself involved with.“The overgrown kid here has a point let’s get moving.’

Faith stopped. “Wait, where’s Spud?”

Blade stopped and looked over his shoulder. “Spud was a familiar, he got what was coming to him.”

“But couldn’t you just have talked to him, I mean maybe he just made...”

“He made his choice and now he’s died end of story.” Snapped Blade dragging Whistler on his right shoulder, quickly followed by everyone including a very shaken Faith.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
SHIELD HQ  
Faith and Steve where back in the conference room along with Fury, Karen, Natasha and Clint having headed back as soon as Steve had gotten the injection at Blade’s hide out and picked up their car. Having debriefed Fury on what had happened Faith’s frayed nerves were starting to show.

“How the fuck did they know my real name? And how did they get access to my records?” She started to run her hands frantically through her hair and to pace back and forth at a rate of knots. “The guy said he looked forward to hearing about my successors exploits, he knew about Diana. How the fuck could he do that if he didn’t have a spy in the Council? ”  
Everyone sat there in silence which was only broken by a loud exclamation by Faith followed by her grabbing her jacket and heading for the door. “Fuck this shit I’m going for a drink, any you guys want to come get your asses into gear.” Natasha and Clint where the first out the door followed quickly by Steve who couldn’t help but think that this was not going to end well.

Nyssa looked at the monitors replaying the fight between her people and Blade and his. She had been serious when she said that they were still her enemy otherwise she would have given the word to let them go peacefully. The fact she hadn’t let her see just how incompetent her father had allowed their forces to become.  
Closing her eyes and rubbing her nose she started to prioritise her next moves. “Spread the word that the House of Pain is closed for business and get the place evacuated before Blade or his friends attack. I will go through my father’s records see what I can find about this Slayer, the Watchers Council and the demon vampire Angel.”

“What of Wolfram and Heart?” Asked Priest who had appointed himself as Nyssa’s right hand man / bodyguard. He had never hidden his mistrust of that organisation or Karel Kounen.

“We will keep them on board at the moment till we find out more about their motives, I fear they have may become to entangled in our affairs to end our relationship. And get hold of the houses, we need to bring them up to speed and to make sure there is no dissidence. It must be made clear that I am now in charge.”

“Yes my lady.”  
__________________________________________________________________________________  
3 HOURS LATER  
“I’ll run out through the back,  
tell the law to kiss my Aassss.  
Boil the land and burn the sea  
Just don’t take my Jack from MEEEEEEE”

“Hey Miss Masterton how’s it hanging? Mr J in apartment 6 was asking after you, I think he wants to pat your pussy again.”

Wincing at Faith’s double entendre Steve made a mental note to apologise on her behalf before he left. Steve took out the keys to her apartment from his left hand while jostling Faith’s squirming body on his right shoulder.

Steve put her down and she stumbled towards her bedroom throwing her jacket onto the floor. Shaking his head he headed into the kitchen looking for a cup so he could get himself a glass of water before heading home, maybe pour Faith one as well and leave it by her bed with some aspirin. Accept there was no glasses, or plates, or food as the cupboards where quite literally bear. Bending over he went to the draws and bottom cupboards but again bare. Raising his head he looked at the bench covered in empty takeaway containers and throwaway cups. 

Hearing a thump he got up to his feet in time to see Faith take off her pants and walk to her room, her bare ass swinging from side to side seductively despite her drunkenness. Steve just stood and stared. Being on the road with the USO girls there had of course been the odd occasions when he had accidentally come across one of the girls in a state of undress, heck there had been occasions when he had found one of the girls waiting for him in a state of undress. But he had never caught such an eyeful as the one that strolled away from him now. 

Faith stopped at the bedroom door, turning side on Faith looked at him and purred “Are you coming big fella or you waiting for me to come back there and drag you in.”  
Steve was still struck dumb, with a confused look on her face Faith made her way back towards him to come to a halt in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips. “Well what’s wrong, don’t tell me you do not like what you see?”

His mouth dry Steve finally managed to come up with a reply. “Faith you’re very beautiful but I think you have had too much to drink to make any decisions at the moment.”

“What is there to decide? I’m naked ready for some action so get the clothes off and let’s get this party started.”

“I...I don’t think it would be appropriate.”

Her eyes narrowed in anger, nobody and ever objected to what she had offered before. “What’s wrong with you, are gay or something?” Then her eyes widened in realisation. “It’s her isn’t it? Your perfect little hussy from back in the day. You do realise she is probably dead right? If not she would be so old and bent over she probably wouldn’t recognise you!”  
Even through her intoxicated eyes she could see that she had crossed a line by the look that flickerd across Steve’s face.

“Good night Faith I’ll see you on Monday.”

“No Steve please I didn’t ... Steve...”

But it was too late and Faith found herself once again alone in a bare room. 

Hearing the sound of Faith destroying what little she had to destroy Steve tuned his head for a second then continued heading down the hallway, suppressing the fact that there was little waiting for him at his destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This turned out a bit bleaker than I originally planned but there is a purpose for it. As for Nyssa killing her dad, she does actually show doubt in the movie, I just upped things a bit. She will be a returning character, there was Blade TV series that lasted a season so I’ll try and incorporate some of that as well.  
> Anyway please review, I’m really curious if my action sequences are coherent enough to follow.


	8. Intended victim

“MMMM ohh yes baby that hits the spot.” 

People turned around and looked; if Faith did not have her eyes closed in gluttonous ecstasy she would have seen one lady even put her hands around her child’s ears. Even if Faith had seen she would not have not given a crap; she was young, hot, hung-over, and as of right now this was the best damn pizza she had ever had. She had found this pizzeria her first Sunday in New York and had been coming every Sunday since. The pizza’s were to die for especially if you had hit the town the night before like she had. 

“They’re good pizzas aren’t they?” Faith looked up to see an attractive brunetter in her early 30s smiling down at her. 

“They’re alright.” Said Faith nonchalantly, automatically becoming defensive in front of an unknown entity.

Her new ‘friend’ was not put off by Faith’s change in demeanour. “Is that the Meat-tastic or the Beef Bomb pizza? Can be hard to tell the two apart.”

Deciding to take things by the horn, Faith hardened her tone. “Look lady what do you want? I’m not exactly looking for company and even though I prefer my bed mates to have a bit of experience under their belt you’re not really my type.”

All she got for that was a slight reddening of the checks suggesting the woman either really was coming on to her or was professional enough not to let the comment get her too flustered.

“Do you mind if I take a seat.” She asked, still keeping up a conversational tone but with a little more steel showing through in the under tone.

Faith shrugged, keeping up her air of not-caring while secretly starting to go through her options in her head. “It’s a free country just don’t expect me to be sharing any.”

The lady nodded and sat down, she had only just made up herself comfortable when Sandra, one of the waitresses made her way over. “Hi Faith is your pizza okay?”

Faith nodded, her mouth full again. “Brilliant as always Double S, hey how’s Billy doing?”

Sandra beamed back at her. The first time she had served Faith she had spilt half of Faith’s milkshake down her front. Between the apologising and babbling Faith had made out that her boy had just come down with a real bad case of the flu and was in hospital. Looking at her face Faith could tell that despite the smile this was just the latest in a long line of punches to the gut, a line that may have included physical ones. Next thing Faith knew she was calming the lady down and in the end one of the waitresses had to come by aND remind her she was on duty. 

“He’s doing really well; he started back at school last Monday.” Turning to Faith’s mysterious guest she gave another 200 watt smiles. “Hi April long time no see, I didn’t know you and Faith knew each other. Have you already ordered?”

April shook her head “Nope just the usual thanks Sandra.”

“Okay then.” Sandra nodded wrote on her pad, as she went away she turned back to Faith. “Oh Faith I’ll pass it on to the chief that you really like the Meat-tastic but ahh could you maybe not be so vocal about.” She dropped her voice to a whisper “You sounded a bit like Meg Ryan, you know from that movie where she’s with Billy Crystal in that restaurant and....well.”

Faith raised her hands in mock surrender “I get it Double S I’ll keep the moaning to the bedroom, well the bedroom and places with lots of background noise.” She added with a wink making both women grin.

Waiting till Sandra had left April turned back to Faith. “Double S?”

“Smiling Sandra. What, did you think it meant her breast size or something?” 

The brunette frowned. “You are very good at that aren’t you? Trying to throw people off by using double entendres and trying to sound like you don’t care about anything.”

“I am sick and tired of people trying to Psycho-analyse me by the way I speak. If I wanted that shit I would see a shrink. And for the record a lot of the time I really do not give a shit, sides it’s not like anyone gives a shit what I have to say.” The last Faith hadn’t meant to throw in but things had been very tense lately, plus she still had a hangover. Things had been strained between her and Steve since they had hit the town over two week ago and she had no memory of what happened let alone why she trashed her apartment. She had a very good idea what might have happened but had been too scared to talk to him about it in case he shut her out completely. 

“That’s a tough attitude to have for someone so young.” April moved her hand across the table towards Faith’s who instinctively drew her hand and got to her feet.

“Okay thats it lady.” Leaning forward, “who the fuck ...”

Faith stared in amazement as April’s head suddenly vanished in a cloud of bone and brain matter.  
Looking down she saw blood pouring down her chest onto the table. And then there was pain. Then there was nothing.  
____________________________________  
New York General Hospital  
20 minutes later

Steve and Clint made their way into the ER as the car made its way out back. The siren had got the attention of basically everyone in there, even if it hadn’t the way they marched in definitely did.

A rather portly desk clerk came out to meet them.

“Can I help you gentlemen?”

They both pulled out their badges 

“Agent Rogers and Agent Burton SHIELD a colleague of ours, Agent Dormer, was brought in 20 minutes ago we need to see whoever is in charge.” Clint looked at him with a raised eye brow, in the car Steve had agreed that Clint would do all the talking. He should have known better after all if it had been Natasha he wouldn’t have taken the back seat to anyone, well maybe Fury.

“Considering that person is currently trying to save your friend's life that is probably not a good idea but come on in and I’ll see who is available.”

A couple of minutes later they were introduced to rather tired looking Dr Hudson. Faith had been very lucky, if she had arrived to the hospital a couple of minutes later she would have been dead from blood loss. What was also of concern was that Faith had hit her head on the table when falling to the ground. 0n Faith joining SHIELD two versions of her medical reports had been created one under Lehane and one under Dormer in case of a situation like this so the doctor knew about her previous injuries. 

“So you’re saying she might go back into a coma?” Steve was having a hard time to comprehend that could be an option, he wished he could tell the doctor about her healing abilities if for no other reason to assure himself she could recover.

“It’s hard to say, it is rare for people to suffer a massive injury like this after spending so long in a coma. I am afraid to say only time will tell.”

With a sympathetic grimace Dr Hudson walked off leaving a rather stunned Steve and Clint standing in the hallway. They were still trying to process things when Olivia came bounding in still in her SHIELD uniform and with a laptop bag over her shoulder. There were two other agents with her, Reese and Charles. 

“Is Faith alright? Is she going to be okay? Joe is here as well he is parking the car around back with yours. Is she in surgery? Do they need blood? I’m o positive so I’m a universal donor and...”

Steve held up his hand. “She in surgery now and I am sure she should be okay. Now does Agent Coulson know that you are here Agent Baxter?”

She looked at him flummoxed by his cold demeanour “I ... well ...no but Faith is my friend and I thought it was best...”

“You though it was best you came down here rather than stay at your post where you could help find the people responsible for this.” Steve moved until he was towering above Olivia, his eyes barrowing down on the short haired brunette.

A potential rant was stopped by a hand being placed on his shoulder “Heh Cap.” He turned to look at Clint “No need to take her head off.”

Steve looked back down at Olivia who was trying very hard to hold herself together. Taking a second to calm himself he looked back at her. “Is Faith the first colleague you’ve had who has been injured in the line of duty?”

Olivia nodded her head.

“In batt... in this line of work there are always going to be injuries, even fatalities. It is something you’re going to have to prepare yourself for.”

She nodded her head again, “I’ll take a cab back to HQ”, and then made her way towards the door.

Steve let out another breath “Wait.” She turned around. “I take it that you can work on that laptop?” Another nod. “Faith hates hospitals, you stay here and we’ll get in touch if we need anything. I’ll square things away with Fury and Hill, but only this once you understand?” Another nod followed by a small smile which Steve returned. “Alright, now from the sounds of things she is going to be out of it for awhile but if she wakes up you let me know; she better not catch you crying either, you know what she’s like. Here’s my cell.”

Once he was done he turned to Clint and the two headed off to the crime scene.

Casey’s Pizzeria

The pizzeria was on the corner of a residential block, not far from where Faith lived. Steve and Clint were dropped off outside the crimes scene and once they showed their badges were let under the police tape and meet outside the dinner by Captain Miller and Detective Yokas from Major Crimes. After the customary handshaking and offering of best wishes for Faith they went to the entrance of the dinner. 

“Can I take a closer look?” Clint asked quietly and carefully went closer to Faith’s table. After taking a look at the blood and brain matter he bent over and peered out the window. Steve stayed beside the door, trying to shake the flashback he was getting of Bucky’s demise. Yes it had been under entirely different circumstances but the feeling of guilt would just not go away however unwarranted it was.

“I think I know where the shots came from.” They all moved aside as Clint walked out of the dinner and stood outside the shattered window. “From the angle I would say the shot came from one of those four windows.” Pointing at the building across the street he drew an imaginary square over two floors. “My money is on it being one of the top ones due to the angle. From the looks of things Faith was probably on her feet leaning over the table when it happened.”

Captain Miller nodded in agreement and indicated two nearby officers to come over. “The tape recorder we found suggests your girl was not too happy about having her meal interrupted. Officers Peterson and O’Reilly will go with you; they can give you some gloves.” 

Clint nodded in consent. “Where going to want a copy of that tape, would it also be possible to have a look at the remains of the bullets afterwards?”

Putting himself on the spot Miller agreed. “We can get them to take you back to forensics afterward you’re done.” 

Detective Yokas then jumped in, turning to Steve. “Do you two want to stay together? My partner and I are about to head to Channel 4 if you want to tag along.”

10 minutes later the two detectives and Steve walked into the office of Channel 4’s Chief Executive Michael Diles, a scrawny man with intense blue eyes hidden behind wire rimmed glasses. With him was a Jenny Redgrave, a rather dour looking lady who was the stations chief legal advisor. Once introductions where done and everyone sat down things got under way.

It was not an easy conversation by any means, both sides trying to get information without giving anything away themselves. Steve was relatively disgusted by it all, it becoming clear to him they were more interested in getting information for stories to air rather than the fact one of their own was shot. Thankfully he had the sense to leave the room and ‘get some air’ after he voiced this opinion aloud.

The detectives came out with a relatively satisfied look on their faces and more importantly a name,  
Wilson Fisk.

“Apparently she was looking to do a large expose on him revealing him as ‘the Kingpin’, a major player in the underworld but no-one can make anything stick, they’re not actually sure what she was doing talking to your colleague.” Miller stared at Steve trying to size up his mental state. “No offence but are you up for this? We can have a uniform take you to forensics.”

Without even taking time to blink Steve shook his head. “I’m going to see this through; there is still no way of knowing for sure who the real target was.” 

“I think it is best we speak to some colleagues of ours down town at the 5-3 Anti Crime Unit, your friend should be done by now give him a call and we can meet him down there.”  
__________________________________________________________________________________

They where meet by Lieutenant Davis and Sergeant Finney who apparently knew Detective Yokas from when they where beat cops. 

Steve got straight to the point, “This Kingpin how come you guys can’t take him down?”

Lieutenant Davis tried not to look insulted. “Because he’s smart, he’s not directly involved anymore on the street level. We think he is working kind of like a landlord, local gangs pay him rent to run a block. They don’t make their payments another gang takes the block, where they get their drugs from is their problem. Add in the gambling, prostitution, extortion, and legit business he has a toe in he can afford enough mussel to stop anyone from cutting him out.” 

As much as Clint hated to admit it he was in over his head, he left the scheming to Fury. But there was one area that he knew he could contribute. “The guy who took the shot was a pro do you know if he has anyone on his payroll that is ex-military?”

Davis went quiet and shared a look with Sergeant Finney. “He has a couple but there’s been talk that he has a real mercenary on retainer, apparently he has a burn in his head that looks like a target or a bullseye. Someone matching that description was actually arrested two years ago on suspicion of murdering a Nicholas Natchios and trying to pin it on Daredevil but he escaped custody. ”

“Shit.” Whispered Clint, his face placid apart from his eyes which made it obvious to everyone he had someone in mind. 

“Care to share with the rest of us?” Asked Yokas, who could not help but feel a bit of excitement at what could be their first real break.

“He’s Irish or Irish-American, possibly from the Bronx. No one is too sure as he has turned up in both countries and is known to make up stuff about himself. We are not even sure of his first name but it is possibly Lester or Leonard. They say he can kill with just about anything even a paperclip, I know that he has used a toothpick at least once. For obvious reasons he goes by the name Bulleseye, we’ve got a file on him in back at SHIELD.”

This was news was seriously damaging Steve’s calm. “And you let him walk the streets? No police alert or anything? All the fancy technology you have and you don’t even know his real name?” Turning back to the cops “I want everything you have on this guy and the same goes for you Clint. Get it sent to Olivia’s laptop, I’m going back to check on Faith.”

They all stared rather in diligently at Steve’s back before the cops all rounded on a squirming Clint, Davis being the first to get his dig in. “So much for seeing this through. What’s his story? Is he sweet on her or something?”

“Agent Dormor is his partner, he doesn’t like losing people.” Though Clint would have to admit it was a fair question. When they had gone out to celebrate Steve and Faith surviving their first mission together Steve had spent most of the night sitting at a table trying to scare guys away from dancing with Faith by staring at them. And he really did not want to know what happened between the two when Steve took her home.

The revelation on Steve’s relationship with Faith calmed the cops down. “He should be careful.” Advised Miller “I’ve seen guys go off the rails going after people they thought had hurt a partner, quite often the perp walks because the officer didn’t follow procedure or was too rough.”

Clint nodded and mentioned he would keep it in mind. “So where do we go from here?”

“Honestly not sure.” Admitted Miller, running his hand slowly through his greying hair before continuing on. “There is going to be some heat on this that’s for sure. Mayoral elections are up next year and there already getting ready to start campaigning.” Turning to Davis and Finney, “needless to say if there is some kind of taskforce put together....”

Davis nodded his head. “We’ll want in but honestly I’d rather we not let it get that far, you know how much of a circus those are. We’ve got a couple of CIs who may be able to help us, and there are one or two places associated with the Kingpin that we have been meaning to hit but not had enough grounds to get warrants on. ” 

“My boss may be able to help with that.” Added Clint, looking forward to getting things moving on in case Steve decided to go after Bullseye and the Kingpin himself. “I’ll give him a call and see if he can grease some wheels.”

__________________________________________________________________________________  
Back at the hospital

Steve rubbed his eyes, he still wasn’t convinced that computers where all they where cracked up to be. Yes he would not be able to do what he was doing now back in the 40’s but it was hell on the eyes and it did nothing for people’s grammar.

“How you doing?” Steve looked up to see Olivia in the doorway, staring at him a bit nervously. 

“I’m okay, just going through what we have on this...,”pausing to wave at the screen, “Bullseye character. Nice choice on the flowers I think Faith would appreciate it even if she didn’t say so out loud.” Admittedly he had not noticed them till he had stopped brooding at the edge of her bed but there was no doubt in his mind that the flowers and large get well card brightened things up.

“Thanks. What are you doing?”

Steve startled at the uncharacteristic bluntness from Olivia, and from the look on her face she was a bit surprised as well. “I mean you dragged me over the coals for not staying at my desk and doing what I can to help and then you tell me to stay and keep you informed yet here you are when you could be off getting the bastard who did this.”

After looking back at the laptop’s screen for a second he closed the lid, got up, and handed the laptop to Olivia giving her arm a quick ‘thank you’ squeeze before heading out the door. Walking back towards the lift he pulled out his cellphone and dialled Clint.

“Took your time, how is she?”

“She just got out of surgery, she’s still out. They think there may be a bit of swelling in the brain but it should go down. Where are you guys?”

“We’ve just raided a place up on Lexicon netting a couple of sprats and one medium size fish. About to head back to the station, the cops are going to want to know if you plan to go old school on the guy before they let you near him. ”

“If that means if I plan to hurt him then the answer is no, I’ll see you soon.”

 

5-3 Police Station

Steve was beginning to re-think his pledge of not hurting the suspect. 

Jimmy ‘Silver Tongue’ Lincoln was not living up to his nickname, the only words out of his mouth had been a variation of “I want my lawyer.”

Realising Bullseye may be trying to flee the country if hadn't already Steve decided he wasn’t putting up with this any longer. Catching Clint by surprise Steve strolled out of the viewing room and into the interview room, stopping to stand behind Miller and Yokas. 

“May I have your handcuffs please Detective Yokas.” He asked quietly, his hand out stretched as his eyes never left Jimmy. Yokas did as asked staring in confusion as Steve gripped each cuff and started to pull. Her stare slowly turned to one of bewilderment as the chain started to stretch and then she flinched as Steve’s arms suddenly flew apart. Looking back up over her shoulder she saw Steve’s face red with exertion, holding half the handcuffs in each hand. 

He leaned over Yokas and Miller’s shoulders and slammed the broken hand cuffs down on the table. “An employee of your boss almost killed my partner this morning, I suggest you start answering their questions; unless you want to be transferred into my custody that is.”

Jimmy looked at him then back down to the cuffs in front of him. “I’m going to want protection from the Kingpin the dude will kill me when he finds out I talked.” And then he looked up to Steve. “I’m going to want protection from this crazy mother fucker as well.”

“You’re going to need to give us something first, tell us where we can find Bullseye and who the target was and then we can talk about a deal.” 

“He’s hold up with some cats down on 23rd, it’s a warehouse that the boss had done up for people he wants to keep off the grid. Got no idea which of those bitches he was after, the boss doesn’t share that kind of stuff.”

“Heh.” They turned back from the door to look at a still paled faced Jimmy “I’m going to need a new lawyer the dude coming will be from Wolfram and Heart, the boss has them on retainer or some such shit.” 

Miller nodded then they finished filing out the door to find Clint waiting for them, Miller and Yokas then went off to get thing’s organised for the raid.

“Are you ready for this? If your head is not in the right place then thing could go pear shaped, we need to keep the cops onside. ” Clint asked Steve.

“My head is right enough to remember that Eli Damaskinos used the same lawyers, something which I doubt is a coincidence. We got equipment for this in the car?” 

“M14s and vests, we’re ready to go as soon as they are. Remember this is their show, they will let us tag along but at the rear so don’t try and take the lead. “ 

Steve looked at Coulson trying to hide the mixed feelings twirling around his mind. Back in the war he had been in the front with a squad behind him, not to mention an entire division of men at his call if needed. But he saw the rationale behind it so he swallowed his pride, nodded his head, and steeled himself for what was to come.


	9. Blue meets Red

The Kingpin’s warehouse

“No sign of any guards or lookouts, all teams take your positions.”

There was a sudden flurry of movement as like kids playing musical chairs the police sprung into action only to quickly stop as they reached their designated points of entry. 

Steve and Clint had joined Miller and Yokas outside the front door along with 4 others, Davis had the back door and Finney had the loading dock. Miller gave the signal for the officer with the battering ram to approach the door, quietly making sure everyone else was in position he gave the man the signal to break it down. 

“POLICE! EVERYONE ON THE GROUND NOW!”

The only thing that hit the ground immediately was spent cartridges. Steve was not able to get an accurate count straight away, there were 4 playing a game of cards, another 3 possibly 4 sitting around a tv and at least one off to the left. But it did not really matter because most of them had guns and those that did all reached for them. Most of them didn't even have time to raise them let alone aim. Seeing the one on the left start to draw his weapon both Steve and Clint fired almost simultaneously, one cluster hitting the suspect in the chest while two holes appeared in his forehead. Once the firing had ceased the count was 3 dead suspects, 2 injured, and 2 that had been smart enough to actually do as they were told. All of that in exchange for one seriously injured cop.

Miller called in the ambulances while Davis and Finney went with the rest of the cops to clear up stairs. Clint and Steve stayed down with Miller as Yokas went in search of any paperwork or laptops that could hold evidence. The suspects were grouped together and eventually hauled to their feet, all of them bar one staring defiantly at the cops and SHIELD agents. Seeing the nervous look on the youngster’s face Steve trailed the cops and suspect outside seeing an opportunity to get some information.

He waited till they were about to put him in the car before he made his move. “Officers may I have a second with the suspect?”

The two cops looked at each other and then backed off giving the two a bit of space.

Hiding his nerves Steve took a breath and pulled out his badge and explained who he was, glad to see the suspect’s face go pale at the thought of dealing with a Fed. “Look kid I just want to know where Bullseye is. There is no reason why you need for you to throw your life away for this, not for some mercenary who does not care about you or your people.”

The kid hesitated, licking his dry lips. “I wish I could help man seriously but I don’t know where he is. I mean I saw him go upstairs so if he left he must have...” Suddenly the kid’s eyes rolled to the back of his head and fell towards Steve who instinctively stretched out his hands to catch him. Feeling blood in his hand Steve turned the kid’s head to the side to see some kind of throwing knife sticking out the back of it. Looking up at the building across the street he could see someone standing on the fire escape, white teeth shinning in the shade. 

The Chester cat grin got even broader when its owner saw how fast Steve made his way across the street, with several cops behind him struggling to catch up. Looking up to see the assassin gone Steve aimed for the closed skip in front of the fire escape. Without slowing down Steve jumped onto the skip and launched himself at the fire escape. Grabbing hold of the bottom Steve used his heightened strength to quickly pull himself up and over the railing. Pausing for a split second to make sure he was not about to be shot he quickly reached the landing the assassin had been standing on. 

Pulling out his gun he paused for a second to regain his breath and then cautiously made his way through the window. He quickly found the body of the police sniper who had been stationed on the fire escape. He made his way to the door, opening it with the tips of his fingers as he took cover against the wall. Peeking around the corner he found himself at the end of a hallway with a door either side. 

Checking each room carefully he got to the end of the hallway, peeking around the corner he was greeted by something shiny coming flying towards him. Pulling away at the last second he stared in amazement at the metal chopstick that was now embedded in the opposite wall. He looked again just for the chopsticks’ pair to go flying past his head and join its partner.

A taunting voice floated through the air. “Well are you going to sit there or are you going to come out and play?”

Steve paused for a second and looked up at the chopsticks embedded in the wall. Remembering the path they had come down he got a good idea where his assailant was. Spinning back around the corner he got off two shots before he felt something pierce his arm, turning back around the corner for protection he looked down at his arm to see the steam of a wine glass sticking out of it! Grabbing the base he pulled it out of his arm and with a spring rolled across the room to take a position behind the kitchen counter. Looking over the counter he scanned the room with his eyes, and slowly got to his feet as he once again found himself in an empty room.

 

Casey’s Pizzeria  
Casey sat behind his desk while the Turtles stood around in silence. If he was honest with himself it was really Donatello’s desk as he did a lot of the paperwork. The fact of the matter was he was basically a front person, the name on the papers while the turtles really ran the show. Surprisingly it was Mikey who was most responsible for the pizzeria’s success, turns out while he had been scoffing pizza he had picked up what went into making a good one. He would come in early in the mornings with the chief, who the turtles had rescued a couple of years back, and make the sauces before the rest of the staff arrived.

Some of the other staff had also been helped, or were related to someone who had been helped, by the turtles over the years. April had played a large role in tracking down stories of them to their source and convincing people not to go to the media. The turtles had even done turns in the kitchen on the quiet nights when the few staff working knew of them. As the building had a sewer entrance they were able to reach the surface un-spotted.

And with Donny doing the books all Cass really had to do was stand at the front door and talk to the customers; they probably had more regular female customers than any other pizzeria on the east coast. The boys got a cut from the profit and a regular supply of pizza so it was a no-lose situation, until April had gotten shot that is. 

Leo was the one who started talking first, “Mary is a bit of a mess so Keno is keeping an eye on her. Apparently she had seen the badge this Faith Dormer had and had asked April about it so of course April asked if she was a regular and when she came in. You found out anything as about her yet Donny?”

“Dude if you think I’m going to try and break into SHIELD’s system your dreaming, at least with this equipment anyway. I got into Channel 4’s though, looks like April was looking to find out what SHIELD’s position was on someone like the Kingpin. She was also sizing SHIELD up for her next big story after she was done with him, from her notes April thought Faith must be a Meta to be so young and be an agent. “

“No chance Faith was the target?” Asked Casey, he had talked to her a couple of times in the dinner when he went to chat with customers and each time he went away ruing the fact he was not a couple of years younger. 

“I doubt it I mean yeah she’s is a federal agent but she is only 19. No way someone that young could have pissed off someone enough to put a hit out on her. Ad in the fact that Bullseye is believed to be the Kingpin’s big hitter it looks like April was the target, her own notes suggest she thought she may be in danger. “

Hearing the smack of fist into palm all eyes turned to Raph. “Well then I think it is time we paid this Kingpin fellow a visit.”

“Easy Raph, remember what Splinter always says, ‘he who seeks revenge must first dig two graves’. We have to give the police a chance to bring him to justice.” 

“Leo I can’t believe I’m saying this but I agree with Raph” Everyone looked at Donny in disbelief as he was usually on Leo’s side. “From April’s notes this guy is really bad news, murder, blackmail, bribery but the cops can’t make anything stick. The only reason I can think of why she didn't tell us this earlier was she thought he was too high profile and we risked getting exposed to the press or authorities. We can check with Danny but she probably got a lot of this from him anyway.”

Leo knew his case was in trouble as even Casey had made it clear he was ready to reach for his old hockey mask, he could not even turn to Splinter who had made it clear it was time for them to make their own decisions. “Mikey what do you think?” 

Mikey hesitated; he hated what had happened to April as much as the others but he knew Leo was right and Splinter would not approve of action for the mere sake of vengeance. Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes, went through everything that had happened over the last five years and came to his decision.

 

SHIELD HQ

Steve stood in front of the new suit they had made for him and he had to admit it was quite impressive, as was the armour that went with it. He made a mental note to see if he could have similar armour made for Faith, though her tendency to show off her cleavage and/or mid riff may make convincing her to wear it a bit trickyou. Plus she would probably want it to be in black. Hearing footsteps behind him he turned to see Coulson heeding towards him with a data pad in his right hand. Coming to stop beside Steve he joined him staring at the suit. 

“Quite impressive isn't it? You know I actually had a hand in the design myself.”

“It looks good, a lot more flexible than the original. Any luck with finding this Bullseye?”

Coulson turned to Steve giving him the datapad. “Agent Baxter got a lead on the guy, we know he uses the pseudonym Benjamin Poindexter and she just found him registered at the Masterdon Hotel up on 15th street, Room 223.”

Steve looked at the pad which showed a lay out of the building and then pulled up a map showing the surrounding area while Coulson stood beside him silently waiting for his orders.

“Do the police know about this yet?”

“Not yet, even if Faith had been the target she is alive while a civilian and a cop have been killed so we have no real jurisdiction here.” 

“In your opinion do you think they can handle him without our help?”

Coulson kept his face neutral but inside his inner child was doing a happy dance, having Steve ask him for his advice was way cooler than having him sign his Captain America card.

“He knows how they operate so I doubt he is in the room. My guess is he is going to pull a similar trick to what he did at the warehouse.”

“Well we will just have to show him a new one then.” Steve handed the pad back to Coulson “Oh and Phil the uniform looks great but the belt needs a bit of work, there is nowhere for my weapons.”

Phil looked at Steve and then back at the suit dumbstruck that they could make such an oversight and that Steve had actually called him by his first name. After pausing a second he cleared his throat said he would have it looked into and they went their separate ways.

 

Rooftop over opposite the Masterdon

They had gotten lucky in that the hotel was at the head of major T intersection which meant that they could try and set a trap for Bullseye. 

Steve was crouched down on a building on the right hand side of the road leading up to the Masterton, two back from the road itself. Looking down even in the dark he could clearly see the SWAT logo printed on the back of the two figurines on the roof of the building cornering the road. If he squinted he could even see the cops moving around on the buildings on the other side of the road. 

The plan was fairly straightforward, the hope was Bullseye would attack the seemingly lighter manned right hand side, coming up on the building between Steve and the sniper and his spotter, which were mannequins in SWAT uniforms. They had actually managed to sneak two spotters onto the roof of the Masterdon itself. Clint was on the roof of the building beside it so he should get a warning if Bullseye tried to sneak up behind him or if he tried to take a shot from a roof on their side. The police had initially not been too happy about the plan considering how much man power it needed but considering who they were up against they went along with it.

“Steve I think there is movement behind you. One person, appears to be male dressed in some kind of costume with something hung over his back could be Daredevil over.” 

Steve did not know whether to curse or be thankful as he had looked at SHIELDS file on the masked vigilante and was still not sure to make of the likes of him and Spiderman. Cautiously he turned around and made his way to the side of the roof entrance. He drew his Beretta, not comfortable using his Hamner F2000 in an urban environment without a clear shot. Edging around the side he cautiously peered around the edge, his instinct telling him to be cautious despite what the spotter was saying.

He could make out a figure in the darkness across the roofs darting in and out of the light thrown up from the street and surrounding buildings. Seeing that the stranger was indeed wearing a suit that also partially covered his face Steve started to relax and stepped out a bit more into the open. Two roof tops back the costumed figure stopped to the left of the roof entrance and the two stared at each other with a roof top between. Suddenly the figure started to crack a very familiar grin. Steve just had time to bring up his shield in time for whatever was thrown to bounce off it.

“Contact is Bullseye! I repeat contact is Bullseye.” He let off two rounds but despite his speed his attacker had already taken refuge behind an air duct. Bullseye popped up holding a machine gun in his hand causing Steve to once again seek shelter behind his shield.

“Steve I don’t have a clear shot going to see if I can wing him with some fragments.” Steve heard Clint’s shots followed by a low grunt of pain.

The smart move would have been to wait it out till a chopper arrived and there were police on the roof but Steve knew how tricky his opponent was and he was not letting him get away again. Getting up he jumped onto the second roof top and was half way across before he felt pain in his right leg causing him to drop his gun. As he went down he threw his shield and went into a forward roll, stopping mid way threw to reach back for his gun. Gingerly he got to his feet and seeing movement he fired only to see to his shock that somehow Bullseye had actually stopped his shield and was himself now using it for his own protection. 

Realising he was out of time Steve made a wild shot at Bullseye gun hand and was satisfied to see the assassin's gun drop and his body arch in agony. Now only meters away and with his adrenaline overriding his senses Steve dropped his own gun and launched at Bullseye grabbing hold of his shield with both hands. Pivoting like a shot put thrower, Steve yelled in pain as he put pressure on his right foot but he still had enough momentum to send Bullseye flying into an air pipe on the next roof while Steve’s shield fell to the ground in between them. 

Slowly getting back to his feet Steve just made his way to his shield and hobbled to stand in front of Bullseye. Rolling the assassin onto his back he looked down at the battered figure lying in front of him, still grinning away like a kid at the playground.

“Hello there, do you like my costume? I figure if heroes can dress up why not us villains as well? No reason we can’t join in on the fun eh?”

Steve put his right foot squarely on Bullseye’s chest, his own rising and falling rapidly as he tried to work through the pain in his leg and his anger at what Bullseye had done. As his mind began to merge memories of Bucky’s fall and Faith’s comatose body without realising what he was doing he moved his grip on his shield till he was holding it in both hands and started to raise it above his head. He was jerked back to reality when he saw another person’s foot push Bullseye’s head to the side and felt the upward movement of his shield blocked. 

Looking up he found himself face to face with the real Daredevil, shocked to see the masked hero really did have his eyes covered. “Trust me I know how you feel but lowering yourself to his level is not going to undo what he has done.”

Steve looked down and slowly lowered his shield. He watched as Daredevil flipped Bullseye onto his back and tied his hands up using some cord. Ignoring the rant that Bullseye was spewing out Steve took the opportunity to catch his breath and observe Daredevil well aware of how rare an opportunity this was.

‘Caucasian, male about my age maybe slightly older, only visible weapons are two batons, no sign of any guns or bladed weapons though after spending time with Clint, Natasha and Faith I know that does not mean there aren't some hidden somewhere. Suit is red and his eyes are completely covered which means that he must have some other way of figuring out what is going on, possibly using sound. ’

His analysis stopped when Daredevil stood up and moved beside him with a hog tied Bullseye at their feet. “From your shield I take it you’re not actually a cop. I should warn you a good lawyer might be able to get him off due to excessive use of force.”

It was an interesting choice of words but Steve thought it best not to push it. “Technically I'm just here on a support bases, the police are the ones running the operation. SHIELD does have somewhere special in mind where they could put him though, some place designed mainly to deal with mutants like those Mutant Brotherhood terrorists.”

Daredevil nodded. “He has to be tried by a jury of his peers first.” He cocked his head slightly then straightened and started to head away. “Your backup is here.” 

“Wait.” Walking over the Daredevil Steve stood in front of him, wishing he had a card with braille on it. “I won’t pretend to know what has led you to do this, to take the law into your own hands but if you ever want to come out of the shadows and fight for justice out in the light with the rest of us I’m sure SHIELD would be more than happy to have you on board. You wouldn't be a fugitive anymore.”

Daredevil smiled at him. “Hell’s Kitchen is my home I grew up in these neighbourhoods. Besides if you only fight out in the light why are you standing here with me in the dark with your shield covered?” 

Steve looked down at his shield the front of which was indeed covered with only minimal straps around the edges to make sure he could still ricochet it effectively. He had told himself it was to stop it reflecting but he knew that was minimal. The truth was he was not ready to reveal it out in the public but he was not sure why. When he looked up he found himself alone on the rooftop, his only companions the hogtied Bullseye and the pounding of feet coming up staircases.

 

The Kingpin stood in his office gazing over the city, his city. The last 15 hours had been an interesting time as he was under no illusion that, despite assurances from his lawyers, SHIELD could have made his life very difficult even if he was actually innocent for a change. 

His musing was ended by his lights going out quickly followed by the sound of gun fire coming from down the hall. Calmly he went to his desk and pulled out a pair of Mac 10s, and then he went to the side of the room (in case anyone rappelled down from the roof) and waited. He did not have to wait long as soon the double doors flew open and two smoke grenades were lobbed in. After waiting 10 seconds and not hearing anyone yell police he opened fire with his machine guns in short bursts. 

Seeing shapes move across the floor he opened up fully with both guns. When they clicked empty he threw them to the ground, his mind trying to calculate what was happening. He knew that if he was dealing with normal thugs or even ex-soldiers he would have hit something but there was no sound of a body hitting the floor. Yet the fact there was more than one meant it couldn't be the Punisher or Deadpool, it could be Daredevil and Elextra but he could not see Daredevil being this aggressive so who was it?

Slowly the smoke began to clear and he saw someone moving to his left. Suddenly he also caught movement to his right and turned to partially block a large meaty fist to his head. Instinctively he countered with a jab and was satisfied to feel his ringed knuckles contact flesh. 

But his satisfaction was short lived as he felt another meaty hand grab his outstretched arm, followed by a fist right to his jaw which saw him stagger towards the glass. Turning around he threw a left hook only for it to be blocked and to receive an elbow to his lip followed by two jabs to his body, a left-handed uppercut and finally a right jab to the nose. All given with such speed and strength he was forced against the re-enforced glass window which he could hear crack behind him. He tried to wrestle with his opponent but as soon as the Kingpin reached out for his opponent’s shoulders he took two knees in rapid succession to his kidneys and then one to his solar plexus followed several more punches up to his face as he bent forward.

On last jab to the nose had him flush against the glass which he could hear crack even more as for the first time he got a look at his assailant. And what he saw made him realize that talking was his only way out of this, especially when he knew there was at least one more lurking in the background.

“Why did you order the hit on April?”

“I had nothing to do with that attack. Why would I? It would draw too much attention to me; you can’t kill someone like that without bringing down heat.” In truth Kingpin had been looking at options of taking her out or on discrediting her but not knowing what contingencies she had in place he had not settled on anything yet. But there was no need for his attackers to know that.

“Besides I have seen the police report, the report wasn't the target the Fed was. The bullet was a through and through it was an accident she died.” Despite the situation he couldn't help but think it would be a brilliant way of misdirecting an investigation. If he ever needed someone high profiled killed, he made a mental note to use it in the future after he had gotten out of this. 

His assailant leaned in trying to use his eyes as a lie detector but the Kingpin had not survived as long as he had without developing one hell of a poker face. Not finding what he was looking for the Kingpin felt the arms relax slightly but he did not make a move, knowing full well he needed to account for the second intruder before he did. 

He needn't have bothered as his second assailant suddenly appeared to his left, studying him through masked eyes, a bruise slowly forming under his left one. “We know Bullseye is one of your main hitmen, if you didn't hire him to do kill April who did? How do we know that the bullet was not supposed to go through the Fed, make it look like she was the target when it was really April?”

Over the last couple of years the Kingpin had been worried about those like Daredevil and the Punisher operating at the extremes, he had been dealing with them for so long that to him THEY had become the norm. Believing his assailants to be of the Daredevil mould he thought no matter what he said they would not kill him, if they were going to he would be dead already. 

And so the Kingpin said something that for a man as smart as him was really quite stupid.  
“I don’t know who hired Bullseye to kill the girl but when you find out let me know so I can send him a thank you card and maybe offer to cover half of Bullseye’s fee. After all he did save me the trouble of figuring out what to do with your late lady friend.”

Suddenly he found himself being pressed back into the glass.

“What did you just say? You fat son of ...”

“RAPH! Don’t...”

There was a crack and the glass behind the Kingpin gave way, for a second he fancied he felt someone try to reach for him but real or not it was too late.

And so ended the reign of the Kingpin over New York City.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note:
> 
> As you can see I have the Turtles slightly more on the mature side of things at about 19/20 (which I guess would make them MNT rather then TMNT). I thought it would be interesting to see if I could make it work having them semi-out in the open rather than hiding in tunnels, after all everyone has to grow up and make a living eventually.


	10. Chapter 10

Faith made her way down 7th Avenue, hot dog in one hand and the thumb of her other in her pocket. Even though technically she had fully recovered from the assassination attempt she had been given the day off as neither Steve nor Natasha were willing to spare with her. She was still trying to rap her head everything that had happened. Not only had she survived being shot but she had woken up to find a card and flowers beside her bed with people waiting outside who actually seemed to care about her. On the other hand two people where dead and Steve, the real hero of the two, had nearly been killed as well.

Not planning anything heavy she had just gone out with a silver engraved Fairbairn knife and what to an untrained eye would look like a very large letter opener. It was a knife almost purely made out of Verawood, one of the hardest woods in existence. She had seen it in a store window and had instantly recognized that with the thin steel edge running along the wooden blade it was a better alternative to carrying a wooden stake. It had been the first thing of real value she had bought herself since coming to New York.

She saw a large crowd gathering around outside a department store watching something on the news, considering the looks of disbelief on their faces she figured she’d better have a quick peek. Using her elbows and ... other parts of her anatomy to shove people aside she found herself front and center looking at some kind of enormous sandman and something which looked a hell of a lot like a demon. Looking at the scroll to get a location she started to shimmy her way out of the crowd and work her way towards the scene, flipping open her cell as she went hitting Phil on speed dial.

“This is Coulson”

“Yo C this is Faith, you guys got the 411 on what the fuck is going on? One of those thing looks like a demon.”

“We are pretty sure it’s not, especially as the Sandman is or was human. And I doubt a demon would be trying to call out Spiderman. We even have Tony trying to come up with something. Where are you?”

“Jesus we really must be screwed then if you are thinking of getting him involved. I’m on my way to the site, I don‘t know what the hell is going on but I’m going to be damned if I’m going to sit it out. And we need to get an idea why the hell these guys are interested in Spiderman. I can guarantee these guys are not going to stop with him, this is going to royally bite us in the ass if we do not do something.” Then she remembered something from her GED “Doesn't heat turn sand into glass? Where’s the geek squad? I bet Johnny could create a couple of shards out of it, street level obviously don’t want anyone getting cut with flying pieces”

“The Fantastic 4 are dealing with a problem in Japan, apparently someone tried to create Godzilla using Gamma radiation.”

Faith stopped dead in her tracks. “Really? And they didn't invite me?” She had meet the Fantastic 4 her third week out of the joint. She had the feeling that Reed and Susan didn't really approve but Johnny and Ben were pretty cool, she could have sworn she had even made the big guy blush a couple of times.

“They are really in Japan but no Godzilla fortunately”

Faith huffed and kept going. “Says you, any chance of getting someone up in the air and keeping an eye on things? I'm not asking anyone to get up and close to the thing or anything just to get a perspective on high There may be some reason there duking it out up there apart from Spidey trying to keep civilians out of the way.”

“I take it you did not realize that there is a female hostage. And we’re not letting any aircraft near that thing when it could clog up the engines. I thought you were just going to take a look? You don’t need aerial reconnaissance for that, and Faith as far as this situation is concerned you are just a civilian do you understand?”

“Yes sir! Three bags full sir!”

“Faith...” He didn’t get any further as Faith had shut her phone off and was moving towards where the fighting was taking place, where she knew she belonged.

 

* * *

SHIELD New York HQ  
Coulson closed his phone with a sigh. Calling Faith a civilian had been a mistake but he kept forgetting the fact that she stopped being a civilian when she became a Slayer at 16. Never mind that she now had a badge saying she was a federal agent, even if she wasn’t using her real name. “Agent Sitwell is Agent Barton back from his Quinjet training on the Hellicarrier?”

“No sir.”

“Then I want the Shadow up in the air immediately”. He may have told Faith not to go in but one thing he had learned from working with Tony was to say no but to prepare for them to do it anyway. 

“Yes sir.”

 

* * *

Police barricade  
Faith looked around at all of the onlookers and couldn't help but shake her head. Whatever you could say about Sunnydale Syndrome there was no denying that it kept the onlookers away. Looking up she could make out Spiderman going toe to toe with that black thing, even from the ground the thing was making her senses go absolutely nuts. 

She bit her lip, she knew that she was not suppose to do anything but watch, she couldn't get up there anyway not with all these people and cameras around. Looking around she noticed a bit further back a kiosk selling NY merchandise. Looking around to see if anyone was watching she made her way over grabbing a cap, glasses, and a bandanna. Rummaging through her pockets she pulled out some notes.

She held out the notes to the operator “How much?” But the guy ignored her and continued staring up at the fight. A couple of years ago she would have just shrugged her shoulders and done a runner with the goods but she had calmed down since then, plus she actually had money for a change.

“Yo! How much?” But the guy still kept ignoring her, not wanting to actually rob the guy she slammed some notes on the counter, grabbed him by the collar and gave him a searing kiss. “That’s to make up the difference.” Then with a wink she was heading back into the fray, putting on the sun glasses and baseball cap backwards as she went. 

Standing in front of the barricade she found herself straight in front of a wall of cops. She stopped to consider her options as she could not risk just barging through them in case one pulled his gun. Plus she was still not sure how much leeway Fury was giving her so she didn't want to risk another case of assaulting a police officer. 

To her right she saw a cop car behind the barricade, moving along till she was right in front of it she looked around then slipped the bandanna over her face, took a deep breath jumped on top of the cop car and leaped down the other side running full bent at the building. By the time the cops had started to move Faith was already at the site making her way towards the scaffolding, her bandanna back around her neck now her face was out of sight.

“What the fuck am I doing, what the fuck am I doing.” Chanted Faith to herself as she made her way to the feet of the building, trying to figure up how she was going to get up. 

Suddenly she heard a yell and saw Spiderman barreling out of control towards the ground. She moved to intercept, tackling him in the air just before he was about to hit the ground. Faith groaned and spat sand out of her mouth. “Well that sucked.”

Spiderman slowly got up to his feet trying to figure out where the hot brunette had come from. “Thanks but you shouldn't be here this is dangerous.”

Faith did not have time to retort before the ground beneath her began to move. They moved together as the sand started to grow and take shape into a ... 

“Oh shit.” Faith looked at Spiderman. “Get us the fuck out of here.” He grabbed hold of her waist and shot a stream of web upwards. She held on for dear life as they shot up but they were not going fast enough as suddenly they got hit by what felt like a truck made of sand.

The two were sent flying into the building, landing hard on the floor shattering Faith’s glasses. Slowly she took them off, making sure no shards got in her eyes, and then looked up to see the Sandman towering above them. Suddenly her senses went crazy, she turned around in time to see a pallet come flying towards her. It hit her square in the waist propelling her backwards into the wall and then to the ground.

“Well what have we here? Peter you didn't bring your new muse to help you rescue your old one did you?” 

She looked up to see what could have past as Spiderman’s very evil twin brother, her senses screaming at her so loud it was almost deafening. “Leave her alone Eddie, she has nothing to do with this.”

Gasping to regain her breath, her body covered in broken wood, Faith looked up at 'Eddie', the colour draining from her face. “Eddie? You’re human?” 

“Oh baby I am so much more than human now.” Eddie sneered while raking his eyes over her body, “and once I deal with Peter behind me here I’ll be sure to show you how true that is.”

Spiderman aka “Peter” went to make a move but got stopped when the Sandman wrapped a hand around him and dragged him back outside, slamming Spiderman’s head on a beam as he did so and then planting Spiderman on top of it. Eddie went to help him out sensing a chance to get his revenge but stopped mid stride when he heard a cracking sound. He turned around to see the girl getting to her feet looking very pissed off with a knife in each hand and the remanents of the pallet falling to her feet. 

“You want to show me what you have come on and show me.” She snarled, her face almost becoming animalistic in the process.

He looked at her with wonder. “What are you?”

That simple sounding question had Faith stumped so she stuck with the basics “I’m the girl with the knives.” And with that she turned her knifes into reverse grip as Natasha had showed her and charged. The Sandman stopped his pummelling of Spiderman and both watched in astonishment as this unknown addition to the fight started carving Eddie up. Eddie on the other hand did not have the chance to look amazed as he found himself in the fight of his life, his new abilities were great but they did not come with a sudden ability to fight a skilled and armed assailant.

Unfortunately for Faith one of his new abilities was almost instantaneous re-healing. S he had put half a dozen holes in him that basically healed up as soon as they were made. In some ways it was a good thing, if she had not been sure that he was no longer human she doubted she could have fought him, not after what she had done to the familiars. The two separate and started to circle each other. “What the fuck did you do to yourself?”

“Nothing, let’s just say it was a gift from the heavens.” With that he launched himself at Faith taking them both to the ground, she started to get up only to cry out in pain when he dug his claws into her back. Any smart ass comment he had died on his lips when he heard an explosion behind him. 

Turning around he saw Sandman cry out in pain as his head was turned into burning embers and then Eddie saw who had done it. He flattened himself onto Faith as an un-masked Green Goblin flew a foot above their bodies before doing a u-turn and heading back towards Spiderman and the now dented beam that he was lying on. 

Recognizing an opportunity Faith rolled them over so she was on top with her back to Eddie and then bought her head down violently onto his nose. Pulling up she winced as his claws came out of her back but her adrenaline was enough that it did not slow her down. Going straight into a forward roll she came to a stop in front of some scaffolding. Grabbing a pipe she turned to face this ‘Eddie’ who was getting to his feet.

“Mary Jane!”

Faith turned her head to see Spiderman grabbing onto the Green Goblin’s back and head towards the ground on the hover-board thing he was using. 

It was only a split second glance but it was enough for Eddie to spring at Faith. All ready standing side on to Eddie she pivoted to her right, she just have enough time to poke him with the end of the bar as he went pass, sending him careening into some internal scaffolding with enough force for some loose bars to fall down.

The bars hit the ground around Eddie and Faith watched in amazement as he started to scream, holding his hands over his ears like he was listening to someone rake their nails on a blackboard. Realising that he must have super sensitive hearing she slammed the pipe she was holding onto the ground hard, denting it in the process. The pipe made a sound but nowhere near to the volume as the mini avalanche. Eddie slowly got to his feet, and again she slammed it into the ground causing him to flinch slightly before launching himself at her again.

Faith tried the same trick of swatting him as he went past but he was onto her this time. Grabbing hold of the bar he pivoted shaking Faith loose in the process and sending her skimming across the room. 

Stalking towards her his cockiness increased with ever step he took. “You know what? I think I’m going to enjoy killing you, but I’m going to have some fun with you first. Who knows you may even like it.” 

Getting to her feet Faith gritted her teeth and stormed towards Eddie. He ran at her swinging wildly, Faith ducked from a right swing and then leaned back from a left causing him to over balance. Taking her opening she brought a bone snapping right hook to his face followed by a left jab to his kidneys automatically causing him to lean forward. Pressure was put on the back of the head and he got a good view of Faith’s knee before it contacted with his nose, snapping his head back up. He staggered back far enough for Faith to get in a round-house kick forcing him to his knees. With no hesitation Faith was on him grabbing hold of the back of his neck with her left hand while furiously laying into the back of his head with her right.

Catching her breath she tried to remove her hand but couldn’t. “What the fuck?” Backing away from Eddie she was horrified to find a thick black thread running from her hand to Eddie’s head almost like he had been covered in tar. What was worse was that she could sense it, the power, the pure unadulterated power coming from the substance. 

“No! What is happening? Come back!” Eddie scrambled to his feet tugging desperately at the last strands of darkness that had not yet molded to Faith. But it was to no avail as it had found a new host, one with more rage and more power then Eddie could ever hope to immolate.

Faith felt like her insides where being torn apart. For the first time she could really feel the Slayer presence in her as it raged unmitigated warfare against the parasite that was trying to absorb itself into her body.

But Eddie was not willing to give up, clambering onto Faith like she was a pole he yanked for all he was worth but to no avail. Not even really aware of what was going on Faith gave him a shove sending him against the wall. Barley conscious he looked up she staggered towards him. Her body twitching like she was coming down from a high while her face was morphing back and forth from hideous black to normal so quickly he thought he was hallucinating.

She stood above him with the battle for her body raging all across her face. She stared down at his green eyes, the fear she found in them stirring up memories she had been trying hard to suppress. Soon she found herself back in Sunnydale staring at the older, bespectacled, blue eyes belonging to the Professor. She could almost feel the tip of her blade pressed against his chest, his last words haunting her memories.

“But why?”  
Buffy, Xander, Mrs S. All the jealousy, all the anger, the feelings of unworthiness and failure.

“But why?”  
Angel. Wesley. Going to prison content to pay for what she had done only to find out she wasn’t going to get off that easy.

“But why?”  
“You know what I didn’t even ask.”

Fury’s proposal. Buffy waiting for her beside the SHIELD helicopter with a tight smile and her knife in her hands.

The people she had met at SHIELD: Natasha, Clint, Ollie. Waking up in the hospital with a card on the table beside her bed and sunshine coming through the window. 

Steve.

“But why? But why? But why?” 

“AHhhhhh!” Grabbing hold of her head her hair should be Faith started to pull, her fingers digging into the darkness that was coating her. With a sucking found it started to peel off and she could feel her heart begin to lift as if a truck had been sitting on her soul. Feeling out of breath Faith looked up to see this thing floating in front of her, its natural form misshapen now that it was no longer tethered to a human being.

“Hey.” They both turned to look at Eddie move towards the entity, surprising Faith with just how normal he looked. “It’s okay she’s not good enough for you. I would never push you aside like that, like Peter did.” He pointed his hands inwards, crazed sincerity appearing on his face. “I would never do that to you, you and me were meant for each other. Give me another chance and we could do anything, anything at all.” He reached out but before Faith could leap in to stop him the entity swiped him across the chest sending him bleeding to the ground.

Faith stood her ground, she knew she probably couldn’t do any damage to the thing but she was not going to back down and let this thing infect someone else, God knows how much damage it had done already.

“Well aren’t you an angry looking blob.” Faith turned around to see a rather battered looking Spiderman behind her. He had both hands behind his back and his mask was torn so badly that he may as well have taken it off. 

“If you’ll excuse me miss your kind in the way of my pitch.” His right arm twitched slightly and suddenly a whining sound filled the air. She may have not been any weapon expert but Faith had been around enough to know to get away fast. Leaping forward and to her left she went into a barrel roll, turning around in time to see ‘the angry blob’ disappear in a sphere of flame.

Getting up she turned to eyeball Spiderman, instinctively reaching out with her Slayer senses. What she felt surprised her as he actually felt a little bit like Oz just not as strong, he actually registered about the same level as Steve just more defined.

“So I take it I may as well take of the rest of this mask off then.” Joked Peter doing just that, the effects of the fight showing in the bruising on his face. Taking a step forward he held out his hand, a disarming smile on his face. “My name is Peter but you already know that.”

Not really knowing what else to do Faith put on a half smile and clasp his outstretched hand, giving it a good squeeze when she felt him do the same. “Call me Faith, I take it your pals are okay?”

“Yeah, Ha... the Goblin has a couple of busted ribs but he should be okay eventually. MJ is shaken but this isn’t exactly the first time this has happened to her. 

The get-to-know-you banter was interrupted by a voice from the ground. “Why... why did you do that?”

They both moved to stand over Eddie'she prone fom. The blow seemed to have been more paw, or hand, or whatever it was that thing had instead of the claws so he was going to have some big scares but would survive. Faith wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not but she could see Peter was about to do his version of Angel’s redemption routine.

“It wasn’t worth it Eddie, it would just take from you everything you hold dear.”

Eddie snarled and tried to get to his feet only to sit down again hard, obviously still suffering from his head crashing to the floor. “Yeah well you’re an idiot Parker.” He looked up at both of them “So what are you going to do when the cops come, when I yell to the world that Peter Parker is the Mhmmp!” His mockery was ended by a glob of spider web to the mouth followed by more to his arms and legs.

Looking up at Peter Faith could see his eyes go wide, the calculations going through his head. Not wanting him to risk going down the wrong road Faith stood in front of him and gently grabbed him by the shoulders.

“Peter look at me. Way I see it you have three options. The first and second are that you hand big mouth over to the cops and try to either throw them off or pull a Tony Stark and come clean. The third is I call my boss and we get some MIB wannabes to take him away. Even if you pull off option one chances are he is going to keep digging till he finds out the truth anyway about you and H. ”

That last comment played on Peter's mind. “Wait your boss?” 

Faith pulled out her badge and gave it to Peter, she could not help but crack up at the look on his face. “Yeah I can hardly believe it myself but it’s real.”

Looking rather pale Peter handed it back. “What would your boss want with me? Hell it wouldn't be just be me he would know about Harry and blame him for what his father did.”

“I overheard him say once that one of the reasons he has survived as long was by surrounding himself with people with different skill sets. You definitely fit the bill and I’m sure Harry does as well.” Faith smiled and clamped a hand onto his shoulder. “And trust me Fury is the not the kind of guy to hold a person's past against him.”

 

* * *

SHIELD HQ  
One hour later.

Steve walked over to Faith and a rather red-faced Mary-Jane who looked a bit relieved at his arrival. 

“Faith can I borrow you for a second.”

“Yeah sure, but MJ I want more details because you can’t tell me someone with that kind of flexibility...”

“We’ll talk later.” Throwing Steve a quick smile MJ hurried off. 

Faith turned to a rather awkward looking Steve. “So what’s up?”

“Fury wants to have a quick word. You did good today, I’ve got the feeling he’s been looking into Spiderman for awhile now.”

Faith’s cheeks went a bit red as they started to head towards the conference room. “It was nothing just your usual dust up. What’s going to happen with Peter and Harry?”

“Harry is going to retire the Green Goblin for now, his father did too much damage wearing it. As for Peter he is going to keep doing what he has been doing but be on on call if needed.”

“Sweet, hey do you think I could convince Fury to fork out to fix my jacket? I was kind of on the clock when it happened.”

“You’d have better luck asking him if you could take home that jacket he let you use for the Reaper mission.”

“True that. Do you think there is anyway I could get a one in white sent down to B? I know she doesn’t work for SHIELD but if something happens to her I’ll have to leave to cover the Hellmouth, and it’s not like the Council will ever shell out for anything like that. I know I should have asked earlier but with everything going on...” Faith tried to look nonchalant but she was feeling guilty that she hadn’t done anything to help out the Sunnydale team since joining SHIELD. 

And thinking of another bridge she had to mend. “You know, MJ works at a bar in town where like the waitress sing and stuff and she says a lot of the songs are from the 30’s and 40’s. I was wandering if you maybe wanted to head down for a quite drink? It won’t be anything like last time, this is a proper cafe type of place not a night club. It would be my shout, you know as a thank you for everything you've done for me. ” 

She was about to continue but Steve held up a hand. “Firstly in terms of equipment it may breach the agreement Fury has with the Council. But maybe you should ask Tony if there is any way he can help as a ‘concerned citizen’. Secondly I would very much like to have a drink with you Faith but considering the day you just had it would be best if we did it tomorrow, maybe I could meet you outside your place about 8?”

She looked stun for a second “Yeah, yeah we could do 8 that would be sweet.”

With Steve smiling shyly back at her as the two of them entered the conference room and took their seats. The stuff Fury was talking about Faith was sure was important but she wasn’t listening, she was too busy grappling with a rather un-natural thought that she couldn’t get out of her head: 

‘What the hell am I going to wear?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Spiderman has been re-booted (twice) since this movie but having older versions of the characters is just more useful for the story. 
> 
> Way I see it most Marvel characters wouldn’t register well on the ‘Slay-dar’. After all it is attuned to demons/ supernatural rather than people with slightly different genetic coding due to natural (eg X-men) or external (eg Fantastic 4) factors. I’ll develop this as the story goes along.
> 
> A Shadow is a type of UAV in use: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAI_RQ-7_Shadow
> 
> Verawood exists, the knife probably not. I'm thinking along the lines of the top one on this page: https://www.core77.com/posts/24741/Yea-or-Nay-FDRLs-Wooden-Kitchen-Knives


	11. Sushi pizza

“No, no, no!”

Running late Faith grabbed her keys and ran out of the door. Barely staying within the speed limits of a normal human being she hit the entrance of the subway like a linebacker heading for the in-goal area. When on the train she gave herself a second to catch her breath before checking to see if she had dripped any of the apple tart she had for breakfast onto herself.

The rest of the day was a bit of a blur, first there was a meeting with Coulson with an update on the Mutant Brotherhood then there was sparring session with Natasha which somehow turned into date planning session with Natasha despite Faith wincing at the use of the word. Lunch resulted in her refusal to let Ollie take her to a hair and nail salon turning into Faith letting the girl take her on a quick shopping trip for a new top.

It was followed by yet another meeting this time ending with a private word with Fury who (surprise, surprise) had found out about the call she had made to Tony from her apartment the night before. This lead to an impromptu heavy bag session that only ended when the bag hit the floor with a hole in the side of it.

By the time 8 o’clock worked around and Faith made her way to the front door of the apartment she was in a better mood but a part of her was still sure that Steve would stand her up. She hadn’t seen him all day as they had him off looking at some new weapon or another and she’d desperately wanted to get a read on him to see if he was going to bail. Yet there he was waiting outside and from the slight blue tinge to his ears he had gotten there a bit early too. They stared at each other for a second then started to head towards the subway, hands in their pockets but walking close enough that their shoulders were within a hair’s breadth of touching.

They moved through the crowd heading towards the subway station, each hoping the other would break the silence. It was Faith who took the honours. “How was your day?”

“Looked at some new equipment, saw a man walking down the street with a black cat on his head.”

“That must have seemed pretty weird even for a New Yorker.”

“Yes it was, back in the 30’s everyone wore brown ones.”

“Yeah well that’s fashion for ..... Wait what?” Her head whipped towards him. “Did you just tell a joke? Steve, you’ve been holding out on me.” 

He smiled as they reached the entrance to the subway. “You shouldn’t make assumptions.”

Faith chuckled as they bounded down the steps. “True that.”

Steve walked towards the barricade pulling out his Metro Card only to stop once he realised that Faith was no longer at his shoulder. He turned around to see her standing a couple of paces back looking at a metro map, a faraway look in her eyes. 

“Faith are you alright?”

She turned to look at him with a fixture of fear and self loathing in her eyes. Why tonight, of all the times to decide to do it why would I choose tonight?

“Faith is everything...”

“Is it okay if we make a quick stop first? There...there’s something I have to do.”

* * *

Casey’s Dinner

The front of the dinner was still covered in flowers, candles, cards and everything else you would find at an impromptu shrine. 

“Faith.”

The two of them turned to their left to see a blond head stick out of the side entrance. 

“Faith I thought it was you.” Sandra’s head was quickly followed by the rest of her body as she came out to give Faith a hug which Faith did her best to return.

“I’m so glad your okay.” Pulling back Sandra gave her a sympathetic smile, her eyes darting between Faith and Steve. “You are looking a bit pale though I hope your man is looking after you.”

“Hey! I don’t need no man to look after me Double S you know that.” Faith turned her head around to look at Steve. “Steve this is Sandra, Sandra Steve. Steve’s my...”

“I’m a work colleague.” He interjected, shaking Sandra’s hand. 

“Yes I’m sure you are.” Sandra said with a bit of a smirk and a look over which earned her a light smack on the arm from Faith.

“Get your head out the gutter.”

“You first.” The two women smiled each other while Steve hanged back, glad to see Faith’s mood start to lighten up a bit.

“Hey look is there any chance you can come in for a second? A lot of us knew April quite well especially the boss Casey and the press have been awfully quiet on what actually happened.” 

Faith stilled for a second then nodded her head. The three of them went through to the side entrance which lead to a hallway leading to the kitchen as well as a set of stairs.

“If you could wait for a second I’ll see if Casey is available.”

The two watched as Sandra disappeared up the stairs. Steve watched as Faith headed down the hallway and paused for a second in a doorway before heading into the setting area of the restaurant. Slowly following behind her he watched as she hesitantly made her way to the front door of the restaurant to stop at the table where she and April had been sitting. The table had been replaced as had the chairs, the only notable difference being they didn’t have the same wear as the rest of the furniture. That along with the feint smell of new paint, were the only signs that something had happened there.

“She tried to comfort me. I can’t remember what I said but she got this look on her face and she reached her hand across to touch mine. I...I guess I kind of panicked, got to my feet and acted all aggressive and everything.” 

Steve stood behind her and rested a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “It’s not your fault Faith, you acted out of instinct. There was no way you could have know what was about to happen.”

_“It still doesn’t make it right.”_

The two of them stood there till they were interrupted by a throat being cleared.

They turned around to see a young man in his early thirties with slightly long black hair. “Hi Faith, it’s good to see you back on your feet.” After Faith introduced Steve to Casey Jones they followed him upstairs to his office, taking a seat as he pulled put a bottle of whiskey from his desk.

They sat back and got comfortable talking about Faith’s recovery and when the restaurant would reopen. Then Casey decided to get to the point. “So Steve I take it you’re a Fed as well?”

Faith’s eyes narrowed as she leaned forward to pick up her glass. “I don’t recall telling anyone her who I worked for. Is that what why the reporter was trying to chat me up? ”

Casey almost chocked on his whiskey at that image. “I think she was generally interested in how someone as young got a shield, probably thought you were being used somehow.” He leaned back in his chair getting a distant look in his eyes. “No matter what the story she always tried to find someone to root for, someone that she could help out. Said that was what real reporting was about, actually making a difference in someone’s life.” 

“Sounds like she was a hell of a lady.” Said Steve, his own eyes getting a little distant as he thought about Peggy.

“Yeah I’m sure she was all candy floss and sugar canes.” Snarked Faith, downing her drink and slamming the tumbler back onto the desk. “Look no offence Cass, I can get why you would be sweet on her but...” Faith stopped and turned her head to look at the wall. Still looking at the wall she spoke again in an eerily calm voice. “Do you have a bathroom around here?”  
Cass looked at her, bewildered by her sudden change of tone but Steve had been around her long enough to know when she had picked up something on her ‘Slay-dar’.

“Yeah end of the hallway to the right beside the stairs.”

Waiting till Faith had closed the door Casey turned to Steve with a mischievous grin. “She’s one hell of a girl, if I was any younger...”

“Well you’re not.” 

The two men stared at each for a second before turning their heads to at the sound of a door of the room to next door being smashed in the sound of fighting.

The both raced out the room swinging into the room to their right, Steve was the first to get past the broken door just to stop in his tracks.

Faith was quite literally suspended in mid air between two creatures. Her legs twisted around the neck of one while propping herself up on another creature with her right hand on its shoulder and her left drawn back for a punch.

Everyone stayed frozen in place till Casey finally broke the ice. “Hey do you think you guys could hold that position for a second while I get my camera?”

Slowly Faith lowered her left arm. “I’m going to need a bit of help getting down but if either of you try anything then this is back on.” The creature in front of her nodded it’s head and with that Faith began to slowly untangle her legs from the second creature’s neck, raising her right leg up and over his shoulder. Gently the creature grabbed hold of her legs and lowered them down while she used the first creature’s shoulder to keep her steady.

Once she got down she finally got a good look at what she had thought where demons only to find that they seemed to be man-sized ... turtles? They didn’t even feel demonic just ‘off’ like Steve and Peter did, which had her all types of confused. And what was with the masks? The one she had been about to hit was wearing a purple one covering his eyes while the one she was going to try Natasha’s move on was wearing a orange one.

“Thanks for the hand down.”

“No problem. I’m Donatello but everyone calls me Donny. And my orange clad brother here is Michelangelo"

“But you can call me Mikey.” Gushed the second turtle grabbing Faith’s hand in both of his and shaking it enthusiastically. “You have amazing legs... I mean impressive... ehhh athletic?” He grimaced and leaned back slightly as if expecting Faith to hit him.

“Nah you where right the first time. I’m Faith but I’m guessing you already know that.” She took her hand out from between his. Looking back and forth between the two she couldn’t help but show her amazement as that they were still not registering as demonic. “You really aren’t demons are you? No offense but what the hell happened to you guys? I mean I’ve heard of humans being injected with fish DNA before but turtle?”

The two of them looked at each other over her head and then back down, Donny being the one to voice their confusion. “What? Oh no we have never been human we were just your average terrapins that got a bit of an um ... upgrade. ”

“You really know guys that got turned into fish? Man I’m never going to be able to eat sushi again.”

Donny didn’t even bother to take his eyes off Faith. “You don’t eat sushi now Mikey.”

“Oh yeah, hey I know sushi pizza! I wander if you can bake that seaweed stuff they use.”

“Ohh Mikeyyy...”

It was all Faith could do to stop herself from cracking up, it was a hell of a double act they had going. “Way I hear that where more lizard, you know like out of the ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’.”

Hearing that Donny’s eyes shot up and he took his hand away from his face. “Oh reptilian DNA that would make more sense, it would be a little be closer to human then fish DNA, still it’s quite fascinating that someone was able to merge the two.” 

“Try telling that to the kids that the bastard did it to.”

Everyone stood in silent contemplation till both Faith and Steve looked at the door hearing feint sounds of movement. Casey sighed and stuck his head out into the hallway. “They heard you guys so may as well come on in.”

Faith and Steve looked towards the door in confusion only to see another two ‘turtles’ walk in, one wearing a blue mask and one wearing red. Both look flustered at being heard but more importantly both of them where armed, one with two sai and one with two katana. This immediately put Faith on Steve on guard, there had been no threatening moves but going from three on two to 5 on two changed the picture completely.

“Faith and Steve I’d like you to meet Leonardo and Raphael.”

“Let me guess they go by Leo and Ralph.”

The eyes of the latter shot up at that. “Actually it’s Raph”

“Ralph, that’s funny ha-ha.”

“Shut it Mikey.”

Despite the words Faith could tell there was no real malice behind them, it wasn’t hard to see these guys treated each other like the Scoobies did. She wished she could have that; or did she have that already with Steve and Ollie and the rest of the guys? How was she supposed to know?

Seeing her start to shrink back into herself Steve thought it best to get things moving. “Maybe we should take things downstairs where we have a bit more space.” 

They trooped down the stairs to see Sandra standing nervously in the entrance to the dining area causing Faith to stop in her tracks.

“Sandra you knew about this?”

Sandra blushed but before she could speak Leo explained what had happened. “We stopped Sandra from getting mugged a year ago, the guys already had her pinned down so we didn’t have time to take out all the lights.”

“Come on Faith.” Said Steve, knowing how she was still pretty paranoid about even the slightest sign of being betrayed.

A minute later they were all in the kitchen standing around the central table. Steve and Faith had their backs to the dinning area while Raph, Donny, Leo and Mikey lined up on the other side with Casey leaning against the door. Steve was the first to break the silence. “You still haven’t told us what happened to you guys.”

“What’s it to you? Why should we tell you anything?”

“Raph...”

“No I’m serious Donny how do we know these guys aren’t going to go back to their boss and spill the beans. Our home could be swamped by guys in suits looking to chop us up to see how we work so they can create super-solder GI Joes.”

“Because they have already tried it back in the last town I was in with demons, complete FUBAR, tuned into a smorgasbord with the GI Joes on the menu. Plus you guys must have been here for that mess in Harlem.” Steve raised an eye at Faith’s use of a military acronym and also made a note to find out what she had heard about ‘the Harlem incident’ between the Hulk and ... that other thing. 

“Yeah we were in town for that and stayed well out of it, totally out of our league. Hey where those guys affected by ... Donny how did the professor put what happened to us?

Donny’s eyes almost rolled back in his head as he recited. “Came into contact with a mixture of disregarded chemicals accidentally exposed to a series of radiated waves”

Faith and Steve managed to not look at each other despite thinking the same thing. “Radiated waves sounds familiar,” said Steve casually, “but we would need to speak to this professor to confirm.”

“Not going to happen.” Donny told them bluntly. ”And he destroyed all of the company’s files. Heck the company doesn’t even exist anymore; it got bought out by Os...”

Leo cut back in before Donny could say more. “What Donny is trying to say is that even though you guys seem to be on the level there are some things we rather keep to ourselves.”

A puzzled Raph stuck his hand up. “Can we jump back to the bit about demons please? You mean to tell me the supernatural is real? You mean like leprechauns and Dracula and stuff?”

“Don’t know about leprechauns but Dracula exists except he is apparently a bit of a pansy. Vampires, werewolves, poltergeists you name it’s out there. You guys have never come across anything weird when you’re patrolling? I mean this is New York.” Faith was actually hoping the answer would be yes, as it had been a nightmare trying to get a lock on anything. Heck these days she couldn’t even be sure it wouldn’t be some mutant who’d ended up with scales or something. 

Suddenly looking very smug Raph turned around and started jabbing his finger at his brothers. “I told you, I told you guys there was something weird with those dudes but nooo it’s just Raph looking for a fight.”

He back turned around to face the two bemused agents.“Nearly two months we starting seeing a lot of movement in the tunnels. I knew they were not normal humans because they seemed to spend half their time on all fours. And they seemed to sense us to, or smell us or something. These geniuses,” he said while waving at a rather sheepish looking Donny and Leo, “thought it was just a bunch of workers or homeless or something.”

“Hey you thought they were mutated members of a rejuvenated Foot Clan looking for revenge. They were a group of ninja thieves that where running around about 4 years ago but we took them out of action.” Leo added the last bit in for a confused looking Steve and a contemplating Faith.

She stepped forward, subconsciously rubbing her chin. “You know I thought I sensed something down in the tunnels just before everything went tits up with the Reapers. You guys didn’t happen to be down there about a month ago? I’m surprised people didn’t hear the gunfire through the grates”

Raph eyes shot up in understanding and then turned his head to his brothers and started mimicking Leo. “Relax Raph, why would anyone be firing machine guns in the sewer? It’s probably just some maintenance people with a jackhammer or something.”

“Ehh Faith?” She turned to her left to see a rather embarrassed looking Mikey step forward. “I was just wandering when you thought we were demons did you think we where a specific type? I mean have you ever come across demons that look, you know, like us?”

Seeing the hopeful look on their faces and understanding what he was leaving unsaid Faith felt a twang of sympathy for them. “I’m sorry I haven’t and you have to understand that if there are any there is a good chance you may not like what you find. I mean yeah there are some pretty harmless demons out there but most are of flat out evil, there is no telling what they will think of you guys.” 

Raph threw his hands up. “Great, so not only would human mutants not accept us but demons wouldn’t accept us either.

Seeing the despondent look on their faces Faith searched her mind for anything that may help. “Look I know some people in California who know a hell of a lot more about demons then me they may be able to come up with something.”

“California? All right road trip! Hey do any of your friends know how to surf?”

This time it Leo who shut Mikey down “Forget it Mikey where not going. How would we get there without being spotted? Where would we stay? And you know that our species can’t last long in sea water.”

But Mikey was not in the least discouraged. “We could take the van and Casey he could drive. I’m sure once we get there we could find some sewerage tunnels or storm water drains to stay in.”

“They actually work out of an old hotel called the Hyperion." The idea of Angel meeting the turtles was making her want to laugh and cringe at the same time. “I wasn’t actually meaning you guys going, I was thinking more along the lines of giving them a call. I’ve kind of been meaning to get in touch with them anyway.” 

Faith ran a hand through her hair. “Look this has been a really weird evening even by my standards and I could really use that drink about now (quickly glancing at Steve). All I can promise you is that Steve and I will keep our mouths shut about you guys to our boss. But frankly if you kept going around saving people sooner or later you’re going to pop up on his radar.”

The Turtles looked at each other and promised they would keep that in mind. 

A minute later Faith and Steve where standing back outside the dinner getting strange looks from pedestrians due to the slightly stunned look on their faces. 

“Turtles.” Faith said before turning back towards the dinner.

“Yeah.” 

“Human sized turtles. Mutant.... “

“Faith we’re in public.”

“I know, I know it’s just...”

“Yeah.” Steve turned his head back towards her and poked his elbow out. “You still on for that drink?”

Faith blinked looked down at his elbow with trepidation. Slowly she slipped her arm through and with a small smile they were back on their way.

* * *

SHIELD HQ

Fury sat at his desk, supposedly going over budget figures but his mind was really on the storm Faith’s shooting had caused. The girl may not have known it but she had caused quite a stir since joining SHIELD. Some staff really liked her while others thought she had no business being there or were jealous that she seemed to have jumped them in the food chain. All that changed with her being shot, even though it hadn’t been the line of duty as such it was still enough to change a lot of minds. 

Suddenly his intercom burst into life. “Director Fury I have the head of MI6 on the line for you.” Fury raised an eyebrow; he had contacted the head of both of MI5 and MI6 as soon as Faith had been shot. There hadn't been enough informatio to tell if it had been a Council hit or if the reporter had been the target and Faith was just in the way.

_“Hello Nicky.”_

“Hello M I take it this is not a social call.”

_“In our line of work it is never a social call, how is she?”_

“Suffering from a bit of shock but physically has made a complete recovery.”

_“Good to know, especially as I am sure it will make Quentin throw a bigger tantrum when he finds out.”_

Fury paused, coffee mid way to his lips. “You know something don’t you? To be honest I was actually expecting to be having this conversation with Pierce.”

_“Harry and I decided that it would be best if MI6 took over keeping a watch on the Council as most of their operations are overseas.”_

Frowning Fury put down his cup and processed what was being implied. “Pierce has never struck me as one to cede jurisdiction over anything, unless he thought the Council had someone in MI5.”

_“You always where a clever one, actually Harry and I know for a fact that they have someone in his organisation. It is why we are the ones running an informant in the Council and he isn’t, the Council thinks were not a threat because we’re not suppose to operate on British soil. According to our asset Travers has been throwing a bit of a tantrum complaining that you should never trust anything important to someone of ‘Irish blood.’_

Fury closed his eyes and counted to five, “Bullseye.”

_“Our informant in the Council has only just got back from overseas looking into an attack on their personnel. Even at the Council someone walking in with a bullseye branded on his forehead is not something that can be kept completely hushed. MI5 has been able to confirm that he was in the country over a week ago but they were not sure why.”_

Resting his arms on the table Fury chose his next words carefully. “You know I am going to have to do something about this don’t you. My man made it quite clear to them that Faith was off limits.”

_“They could do with a good roasting, arrogant bastards the lot of them. Harry and I are willing to be quite flexible where the Council is concerned despite them being British citizen.”_

Leaning back in his chair he couldn’t resist the chance to lighten the mood. “Yes I can remember how flexible you use to be.” 

_“Hmpf! Oh you cheeky bugger! You made me spill my tea.”_

Fury chuckled with a reminiscing smile whilst picking up his cup again. “There was a time when you preferred something a bit stronger. If I remember our time in Jamaica correctly you use to prefer white rum.”

 _“Hmm, if MY memory serves me correct what we did with it could hardly be called drinking.”_ Now it was Fury’s turn to send his drink flying.

 _“Is everything alright over there?”_ Fury could hear the mirth hidden under M’s fake sincerity as he cleaned himself up.

“Perfect, pass my regards on to James and tell him to let us now when he is in town next. I know he wants to meet the Capt. and I would love to see how he would handle Faith. I’ll give you and Harry the heads up if I think there will be any blow back on you.”

M put the phone down and let herself a brief smile of satisfaction. She had know Nick since the 60’s and she knew he would not take an attack on one of his agents lying down, especially one that he obviously had big plans for. And if she and Harry timed their own plans perfectly then within a year Travers would be unseated and the Watchers Council, with all of its connections and resources, would be lead by a proxy for British Intelligence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not making up the guy with a cat on his head I saw him with my own eyes.
> 
> The line ‘’....a mixture of disregarded chemicals accidentally exposed to a series of radiated waves” is taken from TMNT 2: The Secret of the Ooze.
> 
> Harlem Incident is referring to the second Hulk movie with Edward Norton which is cannon for the MCU.
> 
> Back in Chapter 7 I did mention Faith picking something up in the tunnel.


	12. Shiny

Xander bounded into the Magic Shop dragging Willow behind him.

“Guys, guys look what I found.”

“It’s called a newspaper Xander.” Said Giles wryly as he and Buffy looked up from the table. “They have actually been around for awhile. And If I’m not mistaken the one your holding is from two days ago.”

Xander stopped and stared at him. “I know that G-man I’ve been reading the funny pages since I was a kid ... wait you knew about this?” With that he let go of a rather relieved Willow and slammed the open paper down on the table. Displayed in front of them all was a two page spread of the fight in New York complete with a rather blurry picture of a leather clad women perched atop of a police car.

“It’s Faith! I mean yeah they don’t say her name or anything but I would recognise that body from anywhere.” He flinched at the glare he got from his female friends. “I mean the silhouette of her figure matches Faith and how many other super-charged leather clad girls can there be running around New York.” 

Surprisingly Anya was the first to pip up with a retort. “You mean how many skanky, psychopathic slu...”

Buffy whipped her head around from her perch on the table. “This coming from an ex-demon who treated Xander like her personal gigolo.”

“Heh! She did not.” Then he thought for a second; “Though I guess that is kind of a compliment.”

“Please you’re no gigolo. I mean yeah you gave great orgasms but there was this gigolo I was asked to curse back in....”

“Anya please, I think we get the picture.” Giles leaned back in his seat, subconsciously cleaning his glasses. “To answer your question Xander yes Buffy and I do believe that is Faith in the picture but (he put his glasses back on) there is no need for hysterics.”

Willow’s eyes widened. “But it’s Faith! I mean I’m all for second chances and everything but, but they’re saying she’s a hero!”

Picking up the paper Buffy simply shrugged. “Well in this case it seems she is, you don’t go taking on some enormous sand thing to help save a girl if you’re just out for numero uno.”

“But she had her chance...”

“You mean when we left her in that seedy motel room or when we abandoned her when she was in hospital?” Buffy eyes swivelled over her fellow Scoobies. “We failed her, **I** failed her and now that she has a chance to get back to what she should have been we’re not going to do anything to jeopardise it, caprice?.” 

Xander and Willow nodded their heads sullenly. “I still think it should have been you Buffy.” Whispered Willow looking back up at her friend who returned the look with a sad smile.

“I’m where I am supposed to be Will, the Hellmouth needs a slayer and that’s me. It’s taken me along time to accept that but this is the way it should be. And besides I signed a deal with the Council and I’m going to honour it.”

Travers’ visit had been a high point of the year, the fact he looked like he had a stomach ulcer making it even more so. The evil grin Giles had on his face when he walked in behind Tavers was just the icing on the cake. With not so subtle hints that she was still considering SHIELD’s offer she had managed to extract a deal. She was now an official employee of the Council, the amount wasn’t a lot so she still had to work to stay afloat and keep Social Services off her back but it definitely helped. Not to mention they had reinstated Giles (with back pay of course) who had quickly come back from England after a call from Buffy. And a written guarantee that he would receive access to any books or materials they needed, starting with anything to suggest the origins of "beneath you it devours". She had been hoping to get something set up for the others but Travers had weaselled out of it. He said that they would have to go to England for proper training and like hell any of them were going to trust him with that. 

Xander and Willow filed out while Giles looked at Buffy with a studied gaze, taking off his glasses once again to give them an unnecessary clean. “You do realise the Council is not going to let Faith continue with what she is doing don’t you?”

“I don’t think they have much of a choice at the moment. I had a call from Director Fury last night and he told me the Council hired someone to kill her Giles, some big shot assassin. Nearly worked too but instead their assassin got arrested and now the Council has pissed off the head of a Federal department which, from what Willow could find, has just finished building its own aircraft carrier. A _flying_ aircraft carrier.”

“Good lord! I ... I suppose it was bound to happen, after all Mr Fury seemed to find the Council’s initial wet team rather quickly and I suppose he is well aware of Travers’ little visit to us.” Putting his glasses down he continued with carefully placed words. “I admit to being quite impressed with how you handled Travers, I honestly did not expect for you to get what you did. It makes me rather curious if this wasn’t running through your mind when you told Mr Fury about Faith.”

Buffy glared at him and then starred off into space. “When I was with Fury he told about this mutant who calls himself Magneto, he was involved with that thing in New York 2 years ago, you know on Liberty Island? Apparently he has power over metal and can squash a tank into the size of a sardine can in a second just by waving his hand at it.”

“Sounds perfect for someone use to fighting with wood.”

She smiled “Yeah it does but that is not what went through my mind. What concerned me was that this guy doesn’t see himself as human, he looks down on normal people the same way a vampire does. Which got me thinking how long would it be before he finds out about the supernatural? What if he tries to make a deal with something he doesn’t fully understand. Or tried to get some magical power for himself.”

Buffy leaned closer to Giles. “It made me think what would happen if it went wrong, what would happen if he was turned. Can you imagine that Giles, a mutant with that much power as a vampire? Or what if he tries to emulate Wilkins and become immortal without losing his access to daylight.” 

She straightened up and looked down at the newspaper in her hands. “It’s going to happen eventually, maybe not to Magneto then but when it does we’re going to need someone who is familiar with both worlds. That is why I told Fury about Faith; and as much as I sometimes hate to admit it we did fail her Giles, especially you and I. Yes she made some real bad choices but the minute she came to town we treated her as nothing more than a spare wheel. Telling Fury was the least I could do to try to make it right.”

Giles thought for a second. “No one really understands how a Slayer is chosen, why one girl is picked when others that appear more suited are overlooked. It is possible there is some kind of precognitive aspect involved. Maybe your right and this is why she was chosen.”

Scoffing Buffy dropped the paper and stretched her arms. “Whatever helps you sleep Giles, it sounds more like an attempt to dodge your portion of the blame for what happened.” Getting off the table she made her way to the small stairs. “I have to get to school, got to keep Social Services happy, and make sure Dawn is where she is suppose to be. She’s still a bit messed up about that whole RJ thing.”

“I still don’t see why you can’t just work here.”

From behind the counter Amy answered on Buffy’s behalf. “Because she can’t reach the higher shelves and she is mean to the customers.”

Buffy whipped her head around. “Can to! I just need to use the stool. And it’s not my fault if some of your customers are idiots and have zero dress sense.”

“Why would you care what they wear? The money of ugly dressed people is just as good the money from the well dressed ones. Their money is just as good isn’t it Giles?”

“From my experience (they all turned their heads to the entrance to see Tony Stark standing just inside the door) it doesn’t matter so much what they wear when they give it to you but where they got it from and what they plan to do with what they bought.” 

Suddenly Xander and Willow came bursting back into the shop. Brushing past Tony Xander stated the obvious. “Guys Tony Stark just came into the store!” Realising who he just ran past he stopped in his tracks and turned around. “It’s Tony Stark!”

By this time Giles was on his feet. “Yes we can see that. H... How...”

But Willow couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Wow, I am a hug fan of your work. I even had poster of you up on the wall, but I took it down because I’m gay now but considering I’m still kind of attracted to you I must actually be bi-sexual but I’m definitelyintotheladylovingatthemomentsonosnugglesforyoubuster.” 

Tony looked down at the slender finger poking into his chest and then up at its owner, one eyebrow raised in amusement. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“EEEP!” Willow stepped back, grabbing hold of Xander’s arm for a second before composing herself. 

“Now If you’ll excuse me I would like to have a few words with your colleagues”. Giving his suit a quick straighten he made his way towards the stairs only to take a step back when his way was blocked by a curly-headed blond with a dazzling smile. 

“Hi I’m Anya welcome to my store what can I sell you today? A Hegmoth crystal? Chinese incense? What about the store, would you like to buy the store? We make a very good margin.”

Giles looked aghast “I beg your pardon? Your forgetting Anya you only have 49% ownership in the store and I’m not looking to sell.”

Anya dismissed Giles with a wave of her hand. “Don’t be silly anything can be sold for the right price.”

Tony smiled “Though the store seems very .... homey I’m afraid I have no interest in retail.”

“Oh”. Her smiled faltered, then immediately brightened back up again. “What about orgasims? I hear you’re very good at giving those.”

“ANYA!”

“Uhh boss.” They all turned to the door to see a slightly portly guy sticking his head in.” Is everything okay in here? Do you want us to bring the stuff in?”

“Yes please Happy.” Turning back towards an expecting Anya Tony could not help but be relieved for the interruption. “Look Anya not that long ago I would not have hesitated on taking up such a ... tempting offer but I’m spoken for at the moment.”

They both moved out of the way as 3 men came in, one holding a chest by himself and the other two a chest between them. All moved from their path as they gently put the boxes on the table and made their way back out, past ‘Happy’ who had taken up a position beside the door.

Buffy turned to Steve with a raised eyebrow “Ok care to make with the splainy? Cause I don’t think anyone here put in an order and you don’t seem the type to make personal deliveries. “

“A mutual acquaintance of both of ours told me of your situation down here. And (placing a hand over his heart/arc reactor) like any concerned citizen I asked what part I could play to help out.” 

Still looking a bit shaken at meeting on of her idols Willow was still the one to ask what had to be asked. “Do you mean Fury? But I thought the deal..”

“Faith. He means Faith.” Stated Xander, not aware of how the tone of his voice changed when he mentioned her name. 

Now Tony may have been a self–described billionaire genius playboy philanthropist but he was also a shrewd analyst of human behaviour, if for no other reason than it helped get girls into his bed. But it didn’t take any of that to realise there was still not a lot of bad feelings concerning what had gone down. Faith had admitted as much, saying more with how she spoke then what actually came out of her mouth.

“Yeah I am. To be frank I had not heard of any of you before Faith told me. I think Fury was worried I would come down and get in over my head (Buffy and Giles swapped a quick look) which frankly is a bit insulting." 

"Yeah sure makes sense" Said Buffy nodding her head, her eyes not leaving the boxes sitting on the table. "Not to be rude or anything but prezzies?"

Tony smirked, running his hand along the lid he then flipped it open and stood back as the Scoobies crowded in. What was in it was not what Buffy was expecting. Set neatly in foam cut outs was a rather bulky bracelet with rows of small wooden and silver spikes below it. Beside the bracelet was what looked like a very sophisticated roundish remote controlled flying... thing with a small tablet beneath that was obviously to control it. There were also half a dozen ear pieces. 

Reaching in she gingerly she pulled out the bracelet. “I based it on the ones SHIELD gave one made for one of their agents. May I?” Tony asked as Buffy started put one on her wrist. Buffy nodded and he stepped forward and in a very professional manner started to slide it on. Despite herself she could not help but feel a blush starting to form at the base of her neck. Like Anya she was more than aware of the stories of Tony Stark and his ex...

“....And you activate like so.” Buffy blinked as a wooden dart fired out of the braclet and imbedded itself so far into the wall it looked like it had been hammered in. “Agent Romanoff has a grappling hook but this seemed more practical for you.” Buffy look down at her arm and the contraption that Tony had placed there, marvelling had how light it was despite seeming brimming with tech. 

“And what’s with the flying gizmo?”

“It’s a drone Buffy.” Said Willow leaning across Buffy and pulling it out, almost drooling as she turned it over. “A very complicated one. Is that a camera in the bottom?”

“Yep has night vision as well as thermal imaging. There is a camera in the front as well.” 

“But vampires are the same temperature as their environment aren’t they?”

Tony was stumped, no one had told him about that.

5 minutes later a rather dazzed Buffy looked down at the bracelet attached to her arm, now fully explained by a rather giddy Tony. Off to one side Xander and Willow where salivating over the tablet controlling the drone whilst Giles held one of the ear pieces.

Buffy looked back down at the box, for the first time noticing the handles inside the box. She lifted up the now almost empty tray and put it to one side revealing two items in the bottom. One looked like a big switchblade and the second the weirdest stake she had ever seen. The wooden tip was made of a darkish wood that ran into a meal handle slightly longer then what she would normally have for a stake.

Buffy picked it and turned it over in her hand, feeling the button on the stock she pushed it. Her eyes widened when the tube extrapolated out another 8 inches.

“Push the button down again.”

Buffy did so and as soon as it clicked into place a silver spike sprung out of the bottom. 

“Shiny.” 

“The core of the spike is actually steel to give it more strength, same goes for the stake so it can’t be cut off at the base. As for the other item.... “ He reached in for the device and held his arm out, the switch blade turning out to be more of a switch sword as the three pieces clicked together to form a blade about 30 inches long. 

“I call that box the Hellsing kit 2.0, a necessity for all looking to fight vampires and such in the 21st century. The other box is for the less subtle situations " 

Buffy and Giles looked at Tony who just darted his eyes to the un-opened second box. A situation that was quickly remedied by a very eager Buffy who eyes lit up at the swords on display.

With the type of care a man may show to a classic car Buffy picked up the larger of the two and slowly pulled the blade partially out. “Ohh very shiny.” 

This caught Xander’s attention. "Cool samurai sword Buffy all you are missing now is the yellow jumpsuit." 

"It's called a katana Xander" said Giles as he took the half-sheathed blade from her, pulling it all the way out to examine it in more detail. "And like all blades its worth depends on how it was made as much as the quality of its metal."

"Your lack of faith is ... well I wouldn't say disturbing but definitely unwarranted. That blade is made out of tempered second grade adamantium. The wakizashi and tonto, did I pronounce them right? They are made out of a titanium alloy, iron and silver running down them for them for special opponents.” 

Giles re-sheathed the sword and tapped it against his left hand. “The Japanese have a style of two sword fighting, called Nit-ryu I believe. Unfortunately I am not that familiar with it but it would be worth looking into to make up for a katana’s lack of versatility and length compared to say a broadsword. We can expand on your Kendo and Aikido though Buffy. And I would prefer you did some training with that .... spear before you take it out, you do not have a lot of experience with double bladed weapons.”

Tony was now feel a bit unruffled, though he had to admit he had been too excited at the chance to make something different to think about what the difference between swords was. “There is something in there you may like as well Mr Giles.” 

Looking down Giles realised the chest also had an internal tray. Putting the katana back in and pulled the tray up only to almost drop it when he saw the cutlass and dirk beneath. “My lord.” He exclaimed as he pulled out the cutlass, admiring the hilt. “I see you went with a Danish design rather than a Brit...” He paused in bewilderment at the USN engraving on the ricasso of the blade and then looked up at Tony who to his credit did look slightly embarrassed.

“I actually copied an American naval design, the M1917 if I remember correctly. Hey what can I say, I’m American, and if you don’t want it...”

Giles bit down on his lip, quelling a disingenuous remark about upstart colonials. "I must admit this is all extremely generous but I'm not sure how this would affect our agreement with the council if they were to find out."

Tony blinked, "oh no this is not charity, well not completely anyway." He pulled out a slip of paper from his breast pocket and handed it to Giles. With a frown Giles unfolded the piece of paper almost dropping it when he saw the figure. "But... but this is ridiculous I cannot afford this!" 

Tony frowned "I was under the impression that you are working for a rather well funded established organisation."

"Well yes but....."

"Then there should be no problem, you won't find better made swords and I only charged for the cost of materials not my time, which needless to say is even more valuable.” Looking at his fingers he nonchalantly added “Of course I am sure SHIELD would be more than happy to foot the bill if you were to agree to partner with them. True they may not have all the knowledge your council have but you seem to have done well and SHIELD do seem to have a way of obtaining what they need.”

Everyone went silent as they worked out where this was going. 

Tony found himself stepping backward as Buffy edged forward, feeling small despite his height advantage. “I thought you said Faith sent you.”

“Faith told me about you, asked if there any chance I could help out. Then the all seeing Fury found out about it and asked me to try and pull the consultant card.”

Buffy looked at him hard and then took the sword from Giles, put it back in its sheath and placed it back in the foam cut out. Putting the tray back on top she closed the lid looked over to Willow who was still holding the remote/camera viewer, the drone hovering quietly beside her ear. “Time to put the toys back in the box Willow and they’re staying there unless the Council agrees to pay for them.”

She then looked back at Tony. “And you tell Fury I know where he is coming from, that I get he is trying to get back at the Council for trying to kill Faith. But he has already had my answer, and I don’t appreciate him trying to tempt me to break my word. And I better not hear of him trying to obtain anything to do with what we deal with. Because if he and his people are still alive after they screw up, and they will, I will .... I’ll bend him over my knee and spank him. And I’m not talking a you’ve been a naughty boy spanking, or a _you’ve been a naughty boy_ spanking here. I’m talking a you can’t sit down for a month spanking, the type where you can pull my fingerprints off his bleeding cheeks.” 

“Buffy!”

“No Giles! We did not go through all that crap with the Initiative just to watch more good people die because their bosses couldn’t reign in their egos. If he gets people killed messing in our sandbox he will suffer pain and I will be the one to deal it.”

There was silence as they all weighed what Buffy said, Anya looking at her with a thoughtful look on her face. “You know you could actually make a good vengeance demon, I could put in a word with D'Hoffryn if you want.”

Ignoring Anya Buffy stepped forward till she was toe to toe with Tony. “I told him about Faith to give her a second chance, to give him someone who could handle the supernatural when SHIELD ever ran across it. It was so not an open invite to the party, Riley will be able to tell him what happens if he thinks it is.” Then she looked down at her watch, “and now I’m late for work, so are you Xander.”

Xander nodded his head then looked at Tony. “It was an honour to meet you sir, come on Willow.” He grabbed hold of her hand and started to pull her towards the door but she was not willing to go.

“But but I have so many questions! Like what is the power to weight ratio of his suit? How does he control the power flow from the arc reactor? Are Gia Munroe’s breasts real?”

Xander stopped and looked at Willow. “Have I ever mentioned how cool it is that you are gay now?” He then turned to Tony. “I don’t suppose...

But Giles was having none of that. “Out. Now.” 

Xander and Willow left, filing past Happy and leaving Buffy, Giles and Tony in an awkward silence whilst Anya simply shrugged and headed back to the counter. Suddenly the door open and mildly attractive lady in her thirties walked in and headed straight for the counter. Anya looked up and gave her best I-will-be-pleasant-but-I-just-want-your-money smile.

“Hello there welcome to the Magic Box.”

“Yes my name is Megan, you called and advised my order had arrived.”

“Ohh yes!” Anya hurried back around counter and started rummaging around under the till. While she was waiting Megan turned to look around. Her eyes settled on Tony and for a second it looked like she recognised him for a split second before turning back towards Anya who had found Megan’s parcel.

“That’ll be $45.50.” Megan paid and left the store, walking past a bemused Happy who was not use to seeing his boss being passed over so quickly.

A smirk flickered across Giles’ face. “It would seem that even your fame is somewhat dampened here.”

Buffy leaned back against the table and smiled “I would advise against coming here as a retreat though, the real estate may be cheap and the locals non-intrusive but the neighbours may literally try to have you for dinner.” She looked up at Tony and her eyes softened. “How is Faith really?”

Tony thought it over for a couple of seconds. “Well if you asked her she would say 5 by 5 but truthfully? Truthfully I would say she is trying very hard to be more then she was before.”

Buffy studied him before nodding her head and straightening up. “I better get going; we’ll forward your bill to the Council. Do we have the option of buying individual items or is it an all or nothing deal?”

Giving Buffy a mental tick for asking Tony pulled out a full invoice with the Stark logo and everything. “Yes you can though I would be very disappointed if you did.” 

Buffy took the invoice and handed it straight on to Giles. “Can you handle it Giles? Principal Wood is a pretty relaxed kind of guy but being late it is still not a good impression.”

With a long suffering smile Giles took the invoice, his eyes trailing Buffy as she headed for the door before looking back down at the invoice which he carefully folded and put into his jacket’s pocket.

Tony clapped his hand together "Well I guess I better get moving as well. Don't want to get in the way of ... whatever it is you do when the world is not about to end." 

"Read mainly," said Giles adjusting his glasses on his nose. "And of course run the store." He looked up at Tony "You must know we do regret what happened here with Faith, even if we aren’t exactly the best at expressing it." 

“Maybe if you expressed more care at the time nothing would have happened in the first place.Then again I am probably the last person to chastise someone over past miss deeds.” Tony put his glasses back on and headed for the door. When he reached Happy he turned back around “I will be expecting a reply shortly of course. It has been fun making something so primitive but I am if anything it is very fickle on how I spend my time. Cho.” And with that he was gone living Giles staring at the two boxes wandering how he was going to explain this to Travers and exactly what else SHIELD had planned for the Council.

* * *

Washington DC

Accountant James Patterson begins to sweat as he watched IRS agents start to box records about a shell company based in the Virgin Islands. One with certain London based directors.

* * *

Arlington, Texas

Watcher John Coke-Steel sits calmly in an interview room as two FBI agents ask what exactly a British national is doing with an underage American girl he had no legal custody of. 

He would have been outraged if he knew that said books being boxed ‘for evidence’ were actually on their way to a SHIELD facility to be held till further orders.

He would have been horrified if he knew Fury had rigged the system so once his Potential was processed by CPS she would be placed with a loving couple. One of which just happened to be a SHIELD agent.

* * *

New Orleans, Louisiana

NOPD detectives with guns drawn methodically continue to search a house after finding a male body in the down stairs living room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The USN M1917 is/was a real sword: http://www.thepirateslair.com/9-m1917-us-navy-naval-cutlass.html


	13. Seeing the dead

It had been a good day and even a better evening. After a day of gym work and weapons training she and Steve had meet up at the local with some of the other agents. Just seeing him burst out laughing for the first time had been worth it as far as Faith was concerned. 

At 10 they spilled out onto the street huddling in a group for one last chat before heading their separate ways. 

For the first time in a long time Faith felt happy, actually happy. She could only vaguely recall the last time she’d hung out in a group like this. It had back in Boston when she had been invited to a house party by an older guy she knew. Yeah he had only done so to get in her pants but still...

“Faith.”

She cocked her head slightly then went back to following the conversation, laughing along even though she had missed the punch line.

“Faith”

This time Faith did a full term, looking into the darkness to find the voice’s source. Suddenly she saw something flicker in the near distance. A female figure with brown hair and … wait, what the fuck? 

“Diane” whispered Faith, so low that it sounded like a slightly laboured breath. That is if anyone had noticed, but they didn’t and neither did they notice her slip away from the group. Cocking her head to the side Faith peered into the night to be rewarded with another flicker. This one was slightly longer in duration giving Faith a clear image of her dead Watcher. 

“Faith? Faith!”

On the second calling of her name she felt her right arm being grabbed hold and used to swing her around. And swing she did with her left fist hitting Steve just above his elbow. Turning back around she looked wildly for another flicker only to be greeted by an empty street. 

“Faith what’s going on?”

“What do you mean what’s going on. You saw her why would you ...” she ran her hands through her hair trying desperately to regain anything resembling composure. 

“She’s gone now, she’s gone and as far as I know she may never be coming back, I may have only had one shot and you had to go fuck it up!”

“See who? Faith. (Steve stepped forward to within arm’s reach) Faith there was no one there.”

“What do you mean she was right..” She waved her hand behind. “You know what fuck it I’m out of here.” 

“Faith....”

She swung back around, Steve instinctively taking half a step back expecting to be hit again. Faith stood there for a second with a hurt looked running across her face before shoving her finger into Steve’s chest. “Not one more word from you Steve or I swear to god I will drop you.” Her eyes flickered over his shoulder for a second. “Same goes to you big guy, and no following either. I’ll find my own way home. “ 

When she had a good head start Agent Barlow, a 15 year SHIELD vet who had been out with them, came up beside Steve. “Mind sharing what you said to set her off? ” 

“Nothing. It was like I had interrupted a conversation with someone important but there was no one there.”

“Just because someone wasn’t physically there doesn’t mean there no one there. The brain can be a funny thing some times. Especially if you’ve seen too many friends put into the ground.” Barlow turned to look at Steve “Well what are you waiting for? Get after her.” He looked on as Steve took off down the road and shook his head. “Kids.”

Steve raced up the stairs only to come to a screaming stop behind an old lady. He impatiently waited for her to clear through the barrier before continuing on his way. Sliding his way through the closing doors of the train he looked around and started working his way up the compartments. He found Faith close to the front, head down and hands clasped. She didn’t move when he sat down beside her. 

A couple of minutes later she leaned back in her seat with her eyes shut. “One of my predecessors died on a train like this. Hell it could have been on this very one.” She straightened up and looked at Steve and gave him a sad smile. “My Watcher Diane told me when she was giving a low down on the Scrouge of Europe. She had this way of talking that made you want to listen, you know what I mean? If I had teachers at school like that I may have actually learnt something.” 

“Yes I do. Sounds like she was one hell of a lady.”

“Yeah she was. I remember this time ...” Faith stopped suddenly and reached into her pocket to pull out her phone. Her face scrunched in confusion when she didn’t recognise the number. “Hello.”

“From beneath you it devours.”

Bolting to her feet Faith grabbed hold onto a pole to balance herself. “B is that you?”

“Oh yeah. Sorry for the creppy intro. I’ve been hearing it a bit over the last couple of weeks and it has kind of got stuck in my head.”

Faith sent a worried look down to Steve. “Yeah no worries B I know how it goes, what’s happening?”

“I was wandering if you had any slayer dreams. You know weird, cryptic, making with the cheese obsession. Or any weird dreams at all of random girls being chased down Scream style.”

For a second Faith froze, jumbled images of Buffy chasing her down filling her head. “Can’t say I have. I actually haven’t had any since, well since Kakistos.”

“Oh. Well that’s something... I mean hopefully a good something as it means it may just be my imagination but I don’t think it is which means it could be a bad something or it could mean you haven’t quite got the same package I did. As I mentioned they could be cryptic but usually have some use.”

“Buffy your are starting to freak me out here what’s going on?” This got Steve to his feet as well, standing beside Faith to listen in he was silently pleased that she did not try to turn away from him.

“For the last couple of weeks I’ve been having these images of girls being chased down and murdered by guys in robes. The crazy thing is it is not happening in Sunnydale, I think one may have even been in the middle east because hello mosques.” They could both hear Buffy take a big breath. “The thing is the gear from Tony arrived yesterday after the Council finally agreed to pay out. It got me thinking of you and then Kendra and then how most of the girls put up a fight before going down.”

“You think they’re like you and ... wait you think they are Potentials? Someone bastard is hunting down Potentials?”

“More like bastards as there are always more than one. Robes, big knives, not very imaginative but I guess their traditionalists. I have Giles on the phone to the Council now to see if they are holding out on us. Again. And considering he has his Ripper face on it doesn’t look good. Hold on a second.”

They could hear some shuffling going on and then the phone being cradled to an ear. 

“Faith this is Giles. I take it you are currently still in New York?”

“Yeah G. Buffy’s right isn’t she?”

“Unfortunately yes. Listen there is a Watcher and Potential in town a John Coke-Steel and a Sarah I believe her name is. They are somewhere in Brooklyn I don’t know anymore I’m sorry, but somehow it would not surprise me if SHIELD did. Travers wouldn’t even confirm the word has been sent out to warn everyone what’s happening so I think it is best if you get in touch with them.” Flicking her eyes to Steve Faith wasn’t surprised he already had his phone out, his hand covering his mouth trying to cover the conversation from the few other passengers. 

“We’re on it G we’ll get on our way there now.”

“We? Oh of course I should have guessed SHIELD would have you partnered up with someone. I take it he or she is fully briefed on what we go against?” 

“Yeah he is, even taken out a couple of vamps. “

“Right of course.” She could hear what suspiciously sounded like glasses being cleaned. “Listen Faith we have no idea what you could be facing so, and I know this is coming somewhat late considering how I treated or more correctly failed to treat you in the beginning, be...”

“I get it G no need to get your tweed in a bunch.” She looked at Steve then cleared her throat. “But thanks anyway Giles.”

“You’re welcome Faith and do take care. Let me know when you have made contact with Mr Coke-Steel, Buffy is going to go on patrol and see if she can find out anything. Hold on she has a ...what? No I’m not going to ask if he is bloody cute! Really Buffy of all the...” Then the line went dead.

Faith chuckled as she put the phone down “Some things don’t change.” 

“We’ve got an address. A car is going to meet us outside the Fulton Street station with extra gear. Another one is going straight there to keep an eye out.” 

Faith nodded then looked up to Steve “Do you think we should give them a call? Tell them, I don’t know, stay inside? ”She thought for a second “You know what scratch that, he’s most likely to run and ended up getting arrested by someone thinking he’s trying to pull a Lolita.”

* * *

Later outside the Coke-Steel residence

Faith headed up the stairs to stop at the door. She looked down at the door handle hesitantly then back at Steve and their driver Agent Mathers behind her. Almost in unison they slowly pulled out their guns as Faith moved side onto the door and slowly reached for the handle...Just to find it was locked. They all sighed and relaxed. Steve and Agent Mathers put their guns back in the holster as Faith stood back on the door and gave it a quick knock. 

When nothing happened she gave it a harder one. “Mr Coke-Steel this is SHIELD is anyone home?”

Faith could hear someone coming door to stop in front of it. Guessing there was someone looking through the peep hole she pulled out her badge. “Mr Coke-Steel we really need you to open the door we have to get you and Sarah out of here.”

Slowly it opened up to show a rather barrel-chested man in his mid 40’s with receding ginger hair.

“My name is Mr Coke-Steel but I don’t know any Sarah.”

“Oh are you fucking kidding ... you know want just get the fuck out of the way.” With Faith pushed forward sending him reeling back into the entrance way. Steve signalled Agent Mathers to stay outside and then he followed Faith in to see her a second away from giving Mr Coke-Steel both barrels. 

“Faith why don’t you go find Sarah I’ll handle this.”

Taking a breath Faith gave Mr Coke-Steel one last dirty look. “Bloody Watchers, useless the whole lot of you.” And then took off towards the stairs.

She could hear Steve starting to try and calm the bastard down as she started to climb the stairs. Reaching the landing she stopped dead in her tracks as her eyes zeroed in on the end of the spiked mace a couple of feet in front of her face

Its welder took a couple of steps back to stand on the top floor, composing herself enough to get into a proper fighting stance. Getting her first look at Sarah Martin Faith sized her up. The Potential was a willowy girl of about 15 with long brown hair tied back in a pig tail. She was wearing a plain dress, fitting but not accentuating, the colour so drab she almost vanished into the wallpaper behind. 

Through the fear in her eyes Faith could see the glimpses of determination, almost arrogance that came with believing you had a destiny for bigger things. Taking a step forward Faith held up both hands. “Easy girl. I’m not here to hurt you my name is Faith. I’m a with a government agency called SHIELD.”

“No you’re not. A government agent wouldn’t use such foul language like that.”

Faith quirked an eyebrow. “Foul? Really? Man he must really have you’re knickers twisted round if you are using words like that.” She regretted her words instantly as she saw the startled look in Sarah’s eyes turned to possessive rage.

“Don’t you talk about my Watcher like that!”

“Sarah Angela Martin! You get down here this instance.”

Easing up slightly Sarah brushed past Faith who followed her down the stairs, not failing to notice how Sarah straightened her back just before coming into view of those below. Steve and CS (even thinking his full name was taking too long) were still standing in the middle of the hallway but the Watcher did look like he had gotten the stick partially out of his arse.

“What have I told you about using that tone of voice. And give me that mace.”

He made to reach for it but found himself blocked by Faith. “If the girl feels safe with the weapon she gets to keep it. Frankly we don’t have time for this you both need to pack some things, grab whatever books you want to keep on you and get ready to go. ” 

“Now look here. I’m not going anywhere with people from an agency I have never heard of because of some threat that I have no way of knowing is real.”

“Oh for the love of ... look’” Faith pulled out her phone and quickly dialled Giles’ number. “Hey G? This is Faith I am at the Watcher’s place but the guy is refusing to budge can you have a word with him.” She then handed the phone to CS, “The Slayer’s Watcher Rupert Giles wants to talk to you. Even if you still aren’t convince we are leaving here in under 10 even if I have to carry you out.” She gave the cell to him and turned around and looked at Sarah. “As for you keep the mace but grab a bag and start packing. Now go.” 

As CS walked into a side room both Faith and Steve’s ear pieces burst into life. 

“This is Mathers we have an injured girl here in the middle of the street. Standby.” The pair of them drew their guns and cautiously went to the door. Steve edged it open just to see Agent Mathers being swarmed on the pavement by people in robes, blades glistening in the moon light before disappearing into his body.

Quickly checking for any immediate danger Steve opened the door far enough to stick his gun arm out and started emptying it gun into the swarm. From the corner of his right eye he saw something emerge from behind a row of cars. He took another quick look to his left before stepping out and firing two shots into its centre mass and another two into its head but whatever it was it was not going down. 

As his gun clicked empty he drew back in and started to reload. “There is something bullet resistant coming. 6’4, reddish skin, 4 arms, 3 horns.“

“Sounds like a Gunder’ok! We need bronze weapons.” And with that CS moved back into the room whilst Faith stepped forward. 

“Guess I’m up”. She gave her gun to Steve and reached under his jacket to pull out his Fairbairn-Sykes knife. At the same time she pulled out her much larger vibranium blade and gave her gun to Steve. “Get Sarah out of her we’ll slow it down.”

“Faith...”

“Now.”

Without another word Steve turned around and picked up a stunned Sarah, who had stayed rooted to the base of the stairs with her mace. Ignoring her yell of protest he carried her into a room directly opposite the stairs and peeked out a window. Looking down he could see the beast so close to the door it was almost out of view. Putting Sarah to the side he aimed both guns and fired as fast as he could through the glass windows. He got off 5 shots from each before it was at the door. Turning around he grabbed Sarah and paused.

Then with an almighty crash he heard the oak front door giveway and Steve made his choice. Taking two steps he launched the pair of them through the now glassless window to land on the pavement to land inches from a parked car. He glanced back and he could see his ruse had worked as the outline of the creature reappeared in the door way. 

Steve took off down the street heading diagonally to where he knew the first car on the scene had parked, Sarah still over his shoulder. He could see one agent dead beside the car, the other sprawled in the middle of the street obviously making his way across but he could. No sign of a injured girl though. Suddenly almost out of nowhere another 6 of the hooded figures appeared. Steve was able to shoot three before being forced to put Sarah down. He stepped in front of her just as they got into the range of their blades. He shot a fourth almost point blank into the stomach and then used the barrel of his left hand gun to deflect the blade of the 5th assailant pushing him into his last standing colleague . 

Both went down but before Steve could finish them off Sara brushed past and took out the nearest one, giving it a golf swing to the face with the mace. The next one got back to its feet and swung at Sarah who expertly blocked it with the ball of her mace. She quickly followed with a perfect head butt to the nose and finished with a lightning hook to the side of the head with the mace. Almost spinning 180 she followed the strike through, the spiked mace ripping its way out of the creature’s head as it fell to the ground. 

Previously in the house.

Steve stood there for a split second in a state of shock and then looked up at the beast lumbering towards them. 

Faith backed up slowly from the door, seriously wishing she had her sword with her. She lifted her dagger up whilst keeping Steve’s knife by her side. Suddenly the door to her left swung open and a flustered CS came out holding an axe in his hand. “I’ve got a bronze axe.”

That moment the front door gave way in chunks of wood and both Watcher and Slayer turned to get a good look at what was coming through. It wasn’t much of one as it paused for a split second and Faith got the weird feeling it was looking at something over her right shoulder. Then it charged her before she could even get the urge to look. The two right arms swung at Faith and she ducked under both, plunging Steve’s knife into its stomach. Coming up behind the creature she slashed it across the back she plunged her knife into its back quickly pulling it out. 

She may as well have poked it with a blunt stick in terms of doing any actual damage but it got its attention. It came towards her and there was an almighty smash from above them. Faith didn’t take her eyes of the thing. It charged towards her only to come to an immediate stop as CK took a step out of the doorway and swung the axe into the creatures stomach. It stopped in its tracks and then with an almighty bellow swung his two left hands at CS. His bottom fist caught CS on the shoulder and the top one got CS square on the head sending the Watcher reeling into the doorframe. 

Faith threw Steve’s knife at it catching it square in the eye and then leaped only to be sent careening backwards into the wall, destroying the plaster and cracking the framing within. Dazed she looked up to see the back of the creature disappear out the front door. Struggling to her feet she staggered down the stairs trying to avoid the bodies on her way down. Her foot caught on the leg of one at the bottom and sent her careening towards a parked car. Reaching out she stabled herself against the bonnet. 

As she did so her eyes caught site of the axe laying discarded to her right. Rushing over she picked it up and quickly located the demon heading down the street, struggling slightly but still making good speed. She could just make out two figures further down, guessing it was Steve and Sarah she scrambled to catch up with the creature. 

When she thought she was close enough she stopped dead behind the demon and lined it up. Throwing the axe with such force she wrenched something in her shoulder she hit the creature dead centre in the back. Its head tilted to the stars with a blood freezing roar before sinking to its knees then lying face down on the street.

Sighing Faith jogged towards Steve and Sarah who had cautiously made towards the creature with weapons ready. When she reached the creature Faith stopped to pull the axe out of its back and immediately used it to split the demon’s head open. She looked back up at Steve and Sarah and could see the adrenaline slowly drain away from their bodies. “Are you two okay?”

The pair nodded and lowered their weapons. “You?” Asked Steve noticing the laboured look on Faith’s face.

“Yeah nothing a ice bath wouldn’t fix.” Faith looked back at the battle damaged street. “I’ve got no idea how Fury is going to clean this up. ” In the distance Faith could hear the sound of approaching sirens. She looked down at the dead demon, giving it a nudge with her foot. 

“Oh my god Mr Coke-Steel!” Sarah suddenly started off back towards the house, Faith and Steve quickly pulling up beside her. As they were about to reach the pile of bodies Faith grabbed hold of her arm as Steve cautiously made his way forward. Suddenly a hand swung up from the pile, blade slashing towards Steve’s leg. It was not quick enough as Steve jumped back before pinning the offending arm under his left foot and bringing his right down solidly on its head. 

The resulting mess has Sarah turning away letting loose what was in her stomach. Her body starting to shake as everything that had happened started to set in. Faith placed both hands on Sarah’s shoulders, trying to comfort her as a convoy of police and ambulances arrived. 

Steve took over, gently moving Sarah aside as paramedics rushed past. “Sarah look at me.” Slowly she did, her entrenched obedience winning over her nerves. “You did very well today and you should be very proud of yourself.”

They looked up at the sound of movement from the house. Steve slightly increased his grip on Sarah’s shoulders as her Watcher was wheeled passed. “He’ll be okay but we have to get you somewhere safe. We’ll have people waiting for him at the hospital.” 

“If we can get them to wait we can send some right now.” Steve turned to look at Faith and then towards the sound of approaching tinted window SUVs. Letting go of Sarah he walked up to the first one waving it down, when it stopped he pulled up beside it and spoken in through a lowered window pointing towards the leaving ambulance. That one took off to shortly be replaced by a second. Four men got out, the two from the back fanning out to cover the carnage. The two from the front Agents Manchez and Rumlow came to stand in front of Steve.

“Rogers report, what the hell happened here?” Manchez looked over Steve’s shoulder to Faith and Sarah “And whose the kid?” 

Invisible in the shadows a figure watched; processing, analysing, absolutely fuming that it had overplayed it’s hand. It had not paid enough attention to this Slayer’s partner, had not looked back to see what he was really capable of till the plan was already in motion. The First frowned in thought. The world was not as it remembered, it was filling up with people and organisations that had not existed before. Science and abilities that could derail its plans if bought against it quickly enough. 

The Gunder’ok was one of the creatures it had originally planned to launch against SHIELD the instant the hellmouth was open. An organisation in some ways more dangerous to it then the Watchers Council despite the cancer slowly eating it. The opportunity of taking out 4 targets in one go had been too tempting to miss. 

The First had wanted to spend more time studying the organisation to see how weak it really was but there was another entity already doing so. There but not, powerful but weak at the same time, reminding it too much of its own current limitations. Realising it could not accomplish anymore here the First disappeared, thinking to get some relief by torturing a blind man with the voice of his dead father.


	14. Chapter 14

The feeling in the conference room was subdued with a trickle of shock running underneath. Sara sat huddled up on a chair playing with her watch. A can of coke and some sandwiches in front of her. Faith was on a chair beside her, the Slayer occasionally giving her shoulder a massage which still ached from her axe throw. All the time staring absently at her cellphone, waiting for Giles to get back to them after the rather long voice message she left. Steve was standing, checking something on a tablet. Well trying to check something, Faith could tell he wasn't doing too well from the look on his face.

She looked over at Sarah noticing that she had calmed down a lot. Maybe a bit too much considering how forlorn she looked.

"Hey kid. Sarah" The girl looked up at her and suddenly Faith found herself struggling for words. 

"Your first time round is always the hardest. You did good tonight."

Sarah gave her a strange look. "You've said that already."

"Yeah well I ... what? Wait that was Steve."

The girl shrugged. "Whatever."

Faith smirked "Now there's some proper teen spirit". When all that earner her was another strange look Faith looked over to Steve for help. Whether he was going to give any or not became moot when her phone finally rang.

She bolted up right, signaling for Steve to come over. "About time G-man hold on I'm going to put you on speaker." Faith put it back on the table and startled to fiddle "Can you hear me?"

"Yes Faith, can I ask who is with you?"

"I've got CK's - I mean Coke-Steels'- Potential Sarah ...." Faith looked over at the girl "Umm what's your last name again?"

"Sarah Angela Martin" She replied promptly then faltered, "that's how he always told me to say my  
name if asked".

"Right" said Faith, sharing a quick look at Steve. "Well we'll just stick with Martin. So I'm with Sarah Martin and my partner Agent Rogers."

"Sarah, Agent Rogers. Are you all okay? Any word on John?"

"We're a bit banged up but okay. As for the Watcher he's still in surgery last we heard, that Mortal Kombat reject got him pretty good. Giles what the hell is going on?"

"We have some pretty strong suspicions here but nothing confirmed. I take by 'Mortal Kombat reject' you were referring to the Gunder'ok. We're actually more interested in its accomplices, the ones in the robes. Did you notice anything odd about them? Did they say anything?"

"Not apart from the fact that there eyes seemed to have sown shut with the weirdest stitching ever. But you already knew that didn't you?"

There was a pause over the phone followed by a worrying sigh. "We feared as much. I believe they are Bringers, agents of an entity known as the First. The First Evil. What you saw was not stitching but writing, a consequence of whatever ritual they do to show their loyalty." There was another pause "Faith I hate to ask you this but have you by any chance had a visit tonight by, well by someone who is dead?"

Despite herself Faith could feel her throat start to constrict. "Yes. My ... my Watcher Diana. It was only glimpses though." She paused for a second, "Also before he was jumped one of our agents said he saw a girl injured in the street but there wasn't one there when we looked. That was the First?"

"Yes it is one of its abilities, the girl had probably been a Potential. We all seem to have been visited as well. Well most of us, no one has been able to reach Buffy since she rushed in hear about 30 minutes ago to look for Spike. She thinks he may have started killing again. Faith I think we really need you and Sarah to come down here."

She felt herself stiffen, her throat tightening till it felt like it was in a vice.  
"Faith are you still there?"

"Yeah" She croaked, "yes I am. Is this coming from just you or Buffy as well?"

"Well just me at the moment but..."

"I'm not setting foot in that place till Buffy says she wants me to. Don't you remember what happened last time I just showed up?"

"Faith." The Slayer looked up at Steve who leaned over the desk. "Mr Giles this is Agent Rogers, we'll work on getting some transport down. I doubt Mr Coke-Steel will be joining anytime soon but he is under guard. "

"That's good Agent Rogers. I take it you will..."

"No he won't" Faith looked up at her startled partner. "I mean best we keep it in house so to speak for now. Besides I'm guessing Sarah's is not the only other Potential stateside, were going to need to get to them before the Bringers do." She frowned having processed what Giles had said earlier about Spike. "Wait what do you mean about Spike earlier? Isn't he chipped or something?"

"Ah yes he is, and well he also kind of got his soul back. Honestly I think it would be easier to explain person. I'm going to get in touch with Travers with your confirmation that we are dealing with Bringers. He would have to send the word out for everyone to get moving to... well quite possibly to come here. Bollocks. This could get messy, actually Faith I would understand... "

"No. No we are coming, if they can't handle it it's their problem. We'll let you know when we are underway. " With that she hung up.

"And before you get any ideas Steve the we is Sarah and I not you."

"What! Faith you heard Mr Giles this is big."

"Don't you think I know that!" She snapped. Backing up she ran her hand through her hair and took a big breath. "I know you want in, I really do. But I can't risk... I won't..." She caught herself "Look you're right this is big, but what happened tonight was just a warm up act. And if something happens and we fail people are going to need someone to rally behind, someone to run a second front or line or whatever."

"Then I'll come with you both to Sunnydale and then head for LA down the 101. It crosses the Santa Clara River, if we blow the bridges it could be enough of a barrier to slow them down if the worse happens. Maybe even enough to force them east to Castaic Junction. But I really need to see how well it's flowing rather then rely on this thing." Waving around the tablet he had been trying use." It may be enough to at least give them a chance to at start evacuating LA."

Faith scoffed. "Slow them down? At least? Oh no way is that good enough, were talking demons here Steve not human soldiers. And besides last time you were in the army everyone was using M1s or M4s or whatever. You really think any modern army is going to listen to your commands? You're staying here, if you want to keep useful make sure whatever Council pricks transit through don't get knocked off. " She turned to Sarah who had been sitting there tight lipped watching the exchange. "Get your stuff together I'm going to see about getting us a lift." And with that she stormed out leaving a angry and confused Steve in her wake.

* * *

Next morning outside the Magic Box  
"Ahh Faith. Are you okay? We've been sitting in the car for the last 5 minute" Faith looked over at Sarah before looking back out the window only to jerk back from it in. Buffy was standing outside the door, arms folded with a tired but bemused look on her face.

Silently cursing herself Faith took half a breath and got out of the car. An uncomfortable silence covered the two slayers as they stared at each other. "I was worried. I thought for a second you weren't going to get out. Either that or you were trying to do the worst drive by in history." Buffy winced when she saw the hurt look cross Faith's face. "Sorry that was uncalled for."

"Nah B it's all good. Hell I doubt it is the worst that I'll hear inside."

Buffy smiled softly. "You may be surprised. Needless to say Xander was the first to work out it was you in the pictures. Subtle much?"

"Like you wouldn't have done the same."

"True." Buffy looked over Faith's shoulder. "Sarah's a patient one, maybe she can teach Dawn a thing or two."

Turning around Faith saw that Sarah was indeed still sitting straight on in the car. Fleeting glimpses to the side the only sign she was interested in what was going on. Sighing Faith leaned back and tapped on the window. Waving at Sarah to get out when she had the teenager's attention.

Buffy couldn't help but secretly be impressed by the changes in Faith. Yes the brassy Bostonite persona was still there but she definitely seemed more refined and not just due to the jacket and slacks she was wearing. The change was even more apparent when Sarah dutifully came to stand by Faith who shuffled slightly sideways towards the girl, taking a more protective stance without seeming to realise it.

"Sarah this is Buffy Summers Vampire Slayer. Buffy this is Sarah Martin, Potential"

"It is an honour to met you Miss Summers."

"Please Buffy is fine, start talking like that I thing about my mom."

Sarah's eye's widened "You, you remember your mother? You knew her?" She turned to Faith "You too? But how? I mean weren't you taken from them when you were really young like me?"

The two Slayers looked at each other with dawning horror then back down at Sarah.

Releasing this could turn into a scene Buffy tried to sooth the girl. "Why don't you come inside and we can talk about this some more. I now the rest of the gang are really interested to meet you."

And then the poor girl completely flipped. "Gang! What, do you mean like friends? You have friends? But.."

Faith put a reassuring hand on her shoulder "It's okay kid, hey they may even have something to eat in there. Don't know about you but I could swallow a horse."

And with that they took the confused girl inside.

* * *

Later in Faith's SUV  
The two Slayers sat silently as Faith drove. Sarah's introduction to the group had been unsettling for all involved. It quickly became apparent that Sarah's Watcher had been reading out of the same playbook as Kendra's. But even then no one dared to ask what had happened with her parents.She seemed to calm down once Xander started talking to her, even Giles could not help but smile at the dreamy look that appeared on Sarah's face as she watched him leave.

The two slayers stayed there for quite awhile, trading stories about what had happened the night previously. The visits everyone had from the First, Buffy running into a fledgling who claimed to have been turned by Spike. Giles talked about his frustrating conversation with Travers who still seemed rather too blasé for his liking. He was able to confirm through his contacts that all Council employees had been put on high alert.

The decision was made that the two Slayers would go and have a talk with Spike about his movements, agreeing that with the First around it was something that would best be dealt with quickly if true.

Which found them in their current predicament, two people who had tried to kill each other sitting alone in a confined space. Both two scared to start talking unsure what would come out."Um Faith where are we going this is not the way to Xander's."

The Slayer in question blinked. "It's not? Hang on a second did you even tell me the way to Xander's?"

A very sheepish Buffy looked at the dashboard "Woops." Then she looked up. "Wait if we're not going to Xanders where are we going?"

"Hell if I know, this is your town Buffy I'm just the driv..." Buff looked over at Faith as the car slowed to a stop in the middle of the lane. She then followed Faith's gaze outside the window her eyes' widening as she realised what apartment building they were in front of.

They both simply sat there staring, completely ignorant of the world around them. Eventually Buffy slowly came out of it, brought around by the sound of horns and angry drivers as other drivers moved around the car. She looked across at Faith who was still starring listlessly.

"Faith" Buffy leaned across and touched Faith's shoulder." That's not you anymore Faith, that's not either of us."

The brunette looked at the hand and then across at Buffy and for a first time since she got back thought maybe, just maybe, things would work out and they could go back to how things were in the beginning.

"Kiss her!"

The yell startled them both out of the moment, they looked out the front window to see a gaggle of young teenage boys on the pavement in front. Another got the courage to pipe up and was quickly joined by the rest. "Yeah come on kiss her. Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!"

Faith stuck her head out the window as the car started rolling again. "Sorry boys no live show today." She blew them a kiss as the car started to pick up speed, their disappointment could be heard through the car window. "God I'd almost forgotten how teenage boys were such perverts."

Buffy chuckled "I haven't, perks of being around them every day." She looked up at rear view mirror and frowned "I think I actually recognise some of them as juniors, and Dawn is embarrassed enough already that I'm there." She shook her head, trying to get back to the problem at hand. Looking out the window she looked up at the retreating sun.

"You know sun down is not for a couple of hours so Spike is not going anywhere. He set up house in a cave system and an old warehouse in previous visits. Usually he'd be too smart to use the same place twice but if something is messing with him... It might be worth checking them out first to see if he is doubling back and I don't know got them locked up or something."

Making sure to keep her eyes on the road Faith tried to sound calm, Buffy's protectiveness of Spike was something she was stilling trying to wrap her head around." It's more likely there dead or even turned you do realise that don't you?"

Buffy didn't say anything, just stared ahead with a distant look on her face.

"B..."

"Take the next left, we'll try the warehouse first."

A couple of hours later. Two very grumpy and strangely smelling Slayers gingerly got back into the car. Faith leaned forward to start the engine, stopping for a second to allow her bruised/cracked ribs to take in the movement. Once she started the car she leaned back and closed her eyes for a second before looking down at her ruined clothes.

"Well I think we can say he is not using the warehouse."

"I know."

"I mean those things didn't seem the type to share their pad."

"I said I know alright! Just drive."

Faith grunted and set the car in motion. After a minute of silence Faith tried again "Umm B."

"God dammit Faith turn the car on and drive even you should understand that."

Holding her tongue Faith did as she was told, wincing slightly at the movement. They drove for a couple of minutes and in uneasy silence.

"I'm sorry."

"What was that B, my ears are still ringing from that hit I took covering your tiny ass."

"I said I'm sorry alright! Sorry about just jumping in there. Sorry about everything okay just .."

"Okay I got it just drive but where? You still haven't given me direction to Xander's!"

The two girls looked at each other then cracked up laughing.

Faith looked down at her goo splattered clothes. "This was my best gear too."

"Oh Faith you didn't get dressed up just for me? And for the record behind is not tiny, its perky."

Faith's retort got cut off by Buffy's phone ringing. Pulling it out she winced when she saw some of the gunk had even got in her pocket.

"Hello"

"Hello Buffy Anya here, you know the girl you left with the crazy vampire."

Faith's concerned eyes meet her own. "Anya is everything okay has he hurt you?"

"Oh no he's just gone. Actually dresses up quite well, definitely not using one of Xander's shirts. Are you going to pay me? I feel you should be paying me. I had to stay here rather than be at the shop taking people's money."

Not even bothering to say thanks Buffy hung up "Doesn't sound like Spike is heading to the Bronze if he's bothered to dress up. He's probably heading to the night club in the center of town, take a left here"

* * *

Central Sunnydale  
Faith made her way through the crowd, trying to suppress her last memory of being in the area. That night when the Council had grabbed her whilst talking to Angel seemed a life time ago.

Suddenly her ear piece burst into life. "Faith this is Buffy can you hear me over."

"I've got you B, no need to say over at the end."

"Oh. I'm going to seriously hurt Xand...wait I can see Spike he's heading you way. And he has a girl with him wearing a real ugly purple top."

"Got it B."

Faith picked up the pace, her right hand reaching into her jacket only to grimace when she remembered B wanted the vamp alive. Scanning the crowd she saw them take a left down the alley. Pushing her way through she caught a glimpse of him lowering his face down to the girl's neck. Frantically Faith shoved a guy out of the way at the same time drawing her gun.

The shot caught Spike in the shoulder, the vampire was still in shock when Faith reached forward and ripped the girl away and then pistol whipped him across the face. Keeping the momentum going Spike swung around bringing an elbow up catching Faith just above her right eye opening a cut. 

Grabbing hold of his shirt Faith sent a series on knees up into his torso. Finally arriving on the scene Buffy got straight into it landing a rabbit shot to the back of Spike's head that made his eyes roll back. He lurched forward into Faith who used the momentum to swing him around and down taking them both to the ground with her ontop. Her first hit to the face connecting just after impact.

She got up enough to turn him over, getting a tie from her back pocket she quickly had his hands bound. For good measure she gave him her own rabbit punch to the back of the head, just in case the tie wasn't as strong as the eggheads at Shield thought.

Leaning back Faith took a deep breath then looked over her shoulder at B who was checking the red head who was huddled up against the alley wall.

"Are you guys cops?"

Buffy blinked "uh that's a negative to the guy and the cop bits. You know you really should have run away by now."

Thinking of giving the girl a lesson Faith pulled out her Shield ID. "But I'm a fed and this guy is a serial killer, you really shouldn't go into dark alleyways with a guy you just meet. Now scram." As the chastised girl scrambled to her feet and scurried away Spike started to move under Faith's knee. 

"Get off me, what the bloody hell do you think you're doing?"

"Oh no where the ones asking the questions here." Buffy stormed over to the two, reaching in front of Faith to grab Spike by his bound arms. Her sister Slayer barely had time to get off his back before Buffy yanked him up and shoved him against the wall. She pressed her left arm against his throat and with her right she pushed a stake under his rib cage, angled up. "Let's start with what you were doing with the trollop."

"Well well look what we have here Slayer still got a hankering for old Spike." He took a sniff "you reek of Silesh, got your blood so pumped up your seeing things has it? Cause I didn't come out here with no bird, just got out for a beer and some fresh air that's all".

Faith blinked struggling to get her head around that B had got down with another vamp. "Dude we just caught you with a redhead under your arm."

The vampire looked over to Fath. "Don't be stupid I think I would remember that. Wait, who are you?"

"Do you remember coming into the alley?"

Spike looked down at Buffy. "What? Of course, you lot bloody attacked me!"

"Before you came into the alley what exactly do you remember doing?"

Spike got a troubled look on his face. "Of course I remember I, I look your being crazy you know I can't hurt anyone let me go." He started to move forward causing the stake in his Buffy's unmoving hand to start to slide in. "Ow! God damn it Slayer that hurts. Let me go! Is the thanks I get? After everything I've done for you and the Bit?"

He suddenly turned his head to his left looking down the empty alley. "And for you as well! I mean both of you I mean you just you always you" His voice lowering to mutter only to start rising again as the girls looked at him in bewilderment. "Why did you have to go and bollocks everything up!"

"Spike!" Buffy's moved her left arm so she could grab his chin with her hand. "Spike listen to me. Listen to me!" She snapped his head back to look at her, her voice softening as she saw the anguish on his face. "There is no one there."

"Oh my dear Buffy." The Slayer turned to stare at the figure that had suddenly appeared in the alleyway. "You should know by now there is always someone watching."

Stepping back from Spike Buffy shot him one last look of warning before turning to the spectre. "You have no right to appear as her."

The First smiled, its blond curls moving in a non-existent breeze. "Oh Buffy right has nothing to do with it sugar plum. I can be whoever I want to be whenever I want to be." It turned to Faith" As for you Faith this form was strike three wasn't it? First your mother who saw you as a inconvenience, then the Watcher who saw you as a tool and of course Buffy's 'mummy' who you so desperately wanted as your own."

It walked towards Faith. "Do you want to know to know what they all thought of you Faith? You with your whorish clothes and .."

"Enough!" All turned in surprise when an almost forgotten Spike pushed himself of the wall. Hands still bound he stormed towards the spectre. "I've seen this game too many times from Angelus to put up with the same from a piece of air."

"Put up? Put up!" The First laughed. "You have done more then put up my little Spike." The First changed shape into that of a brunette in her late teens "Or don't you remember me? You told me you were teaching literature at SU." It changed shape again to a blond in her thirties "You told me you were a artist who had just exhibited in LA."

Lastly the First changed into Buffy "And you killed them all for me. You silly creature you have been mine before you even came back to Sunnydale."

It turned to the two Slayers "l will be seeing you again soon. While you wait Spike here can show you his new toys. Toodles" And with a wave of its hand the First disappeared.

An uneasy silence hung over the alley as it's occupants processed the last couple of minutes. Shuffling his feet Spike turned back to face the two Slayers. " I didn't mean ... I didn't want ... Buffy you have to believe..."

'It doesn't matter what I believe Spike. All that matters is can you remember where the bodies are."

The two stared at each other till Spike lowered his head with a quick nod. Buffy exhaled and looked over at Faith who had been keeping an eye out for any company. Even in Sunnydale a gunshot should have the police turning up "I'll get in the back with him. We'll go take a look and deal with whatever is there."

Putting a hand on his shoulder Buffy lead him towards the car. As Faith followed them for the first time since leaving New York she let herself regret not bringing Steve along.

It was two drained Slayers who arrived back at Buffy's house. Faith almost stopped in her tracks when she saw the plastic covering the front window. Going in first Buffy took off her jacket and cracked her neck. "Dawn are you home?". The brunette in question stepped out of the dinning area.

"Yes I'm here, curious as to how you expected me to answer the question if I wasn't." She wrinkled her nose "You smell horrible. Seriously you should start wearing a raincoat when you go out to slay." Looking above Buffy's head her eyes narrowed. "Spike why do you look like someone has your hands in cuffs?"

Looking around Buffy saw the vampire standing in the doorway, Faith hidden behind his frame. "It's for your own good love." He answered softly, "fraid I'm having some control issues at the moment."

Faith stuck her head around his shoulder. "Where do you want him B? Basement?"

Dawn's eyes widened "What is she doing here? And why isn't she the one in cuffs?"

Sighing Buffy rubbed her forehead. "Put him in the basement Faith, we have some chains down there. Dawn I know I should have told you but I knew you would freak. I helped Faith get released awhile ago, she was the one who helped out Spiderman in New York against that sand thing. And weren't you suppose to go to the Magic Box straight after school?"

Trying not to show how stung she was Faith put on a brave face. "Actually P... Spiderman mainly dealt with the Sandman, but there was another guy there that had this real evil parasite or possessing thing and I totally kicked his ass."

Buffy looked over to Faith "Take him downstairs we've got some chains set up. I'll call Giles he should have been here by now with Sarah and the others". Nodding her head Faith guided him past Dawn trying to ignore the absolutely murderous look on her face.

She got him down stairs and chained up with no resistance. He looked up at her as she checked the strength of the chains. "They'll never ease up you know, not completely. It'll always be there, always be there, always be..."

Faith looked down and watched as he drew into himself. Sighing she moved back towards the door but when she came to the bottom of the stairs she stopped. She starred up at, in her mind the simple wooden door enlarged to the size of a vaults.

"He's right you know, my little firecracker." Faith turned around to see an image of the Mayor standing on the basement floor. "You realise the moment they no longer need you they will hide you away down here like Spike. You'll never be good enough for them or for that All American you think cares about you. You belong down here with me."

Faith paused for a second then to the First's surprise a genuine smile grew on her face. "I'm sure your right but as you said they actually need me. I can work with that. See you around Casper." The First stood there stewing for a second then a grin grew across its face. "Smile while you can silly girl, (changing into Warren) you won't be once my children are free."

Fumbling for her phone she sat down on the stairs. She brought it up to her ear not even comprehending who she had dialled till she heard Steve's voice.

"Hello Faith, how..."

"Why did you never ask? I mean you knew I had been in prison but you never asked me what happened?"Faith started to compose herself. "You know what forget I asked, Fury would have given you all the sordid details so ..."

"He didn't tell me anything apart from confirming you have been in jail. And I haven't asked for more details. Faith I accept that you must have done something to be in prison. But I know that the only person who kept you there was you. I can't offer forgiveness Faith just help you to see how much you have to offer."

A heavy silence filled the basement. "You know you should get a notebook and right this stuff down. Could give Tony Robbins a run for his money with stuff like that."

She turned on hearing the door open. Willow looked down at her. "Eh Faith everything okay?"

"Yeah. I mean everything is cool 5 by 5." She turned her head back to the phone "got to go Cap thanks for the pep talk." She got up, without looking directly at Willow she pushed on past. "Come on Red let's get this show on the road."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently Joss Whedon imagined Sunnydale as being where Santa Barbara is and I see no reason to change that. The 101 runs through Santa Barbara over the Santa Clara River splitting the cities of Ventura and Oxnard. Apparently its water flow is heavily dependent on seasonal rain so it can drop to zero (and therefore no real obstacle) hence Steve's point about seeing it in person.


	15. We need water

This isn't my bed. With that thought Faith sat up right, eyes blinking as she tried to get her bearings. Then it hit her that it was her bed because it was her house. A house that SHIELD paid for and then sold to her for one dollar. All in the hope that it would be enough to kick in whatever it was that stopped vamps from entering a person's home.

Getting up she grabbed some clothes out of her suitcase. Stepping out her bedroom door she got her bearings and went to wake up Sarah then headed downstairs for some breakfast. As she leaned against the island she looked around not willing to admit to herself how much the place unnerved her with its by the number furniture and white paint job. She hadn't lived in a house since her time with Diane and even that place seemed vibrant compared to here. Taking a mouthful of cereal she nearly swallowed the spoon when she heard the phone ring.

Managing to exert the utensil from her mouth she put everything down and, after a second of trying to find the damn thing, picked up the phone. "Hello Faith here."

"Oh I did get it right. Faith it's Buffy, I want you to bring Sarah over so we can sort out are next move."

Trying not become agitated by the order Faith took a breath. "I'll get sleeping beauty up. Got some surveillance stuff I didn't get to show you guys last night. I'm thinking we can set some up on the Hellmouth."

"That … that is a good idea. I was going to call in sick with everything going on. If you can get here quick we could do some snooping and drop Dawn off early."

"Sweet, see you soon"

* * *

Outside the school.  
The two Summers girls, along with Sarah and Faith, came through the back entrance to the school and headed down to the basement. As soon as they got down the stairs the two Slayers took off their backpacks with Buffys handing Dawn a short sword and Faith handing Sarah her mace. Next Buffy unwrapped the blanket she was carrying to reveal her katana and Faith's claymore. Whilest she was doing that Faith pulled out her tablet and brought up the blueprints for the school.

Quietly they made their way towards the Hellmouth. It was trickier than expected, there seemed to be more doors then the plans for the school said there should be. Once they reached the last door Faith put the tablet in her pocket and unsheathed her sword, Buffy and Dawn doing the same with theirs. Taking one last breath Faith moved through the doorway, automatically moving to her right around the edge of the hole in front of her. Not being quite as skilled Sarah bumped into the younger of the Summer girls sending Dawn half way down the slope to the seal and the body that lay on top of it.

Buffy was the last one in, pushing past Sarah to survey the scene. Even with the body on its back Buffy could work out who it was, her sword dipping slightly as she tried to figure out what it meant. "It's Jonathan, Jonathan Levinson one of Warren's lackeys. Last scene scurrying from town with one Andrew Wells. If he came back then Andrew was probably with him, was probably the one who stabbed him in the back. But this doesn't make sense why would he do this? How did they even know where to find the seal?"

Shrugging her shoulders Faith continued to move around the side of the room. "Ask me probably another one of the First's mind fucks."

"Yeah well no one did."

Buffy shot her sister a warning glance before looking back down at the body and then at her watch. "We don't have a lot of time. And considering he was stabbed this is not the place to be caught with a lot of pointy objects."

Nodding her head in agreement Faith reached into her bag and brought out a handful of small cameras. "You guys have a look around see if you find anything out of place. I'll put these up and a couple of other surprises I have as well. B you watch the stairs in case we get company."

Sarah looked at her incredulously. "But what about the body? We can't just leave him here!"

Sighing Buffy ran a hand through her hair. "We've got no choice. It would be bad enough if we got caught down here with these weapons. And even here walking out of the place with a wrapped dead body would draw attention. We'll come back tonight and get it." Walking towards Faith she sheathed her katana and then gave it to her fellow Slayer. "Be as quick as you can with those cameras."

They had made it out the basement without being spotted and were heading to the back carpark when they ran into Principle Wood. Trying not to panic Buffy scrambled for an explanation "Oh hi Principle Wood."

"Hello Miss Summers, Dawn." His eyes flickered over to Sarah and Faith. "I'm sorry I am still learning everyone's names, you both are?"

"They're friends of mine, just moved into town. I thought I would show them around and try entice them to come here. You know go Sunnydale High." Faith wanted to slap her hand into her face when Buffy did the fist pump.

On the surface at least Principle Wood seemed to buy her enthusiasm. "Very commendable but in future I would ask that you set these up through my office." He turned to Faith and Sarah. "I hope that you enjoyed your tour Miss..."

"Dormer, yeah we did. But we are ehh kind of weighing up our options and everything. So we'll be in touch." She turned to Buffy "thank you for the tour Buffy sorry for being an inconvenience."

Leaving Buffy behind before the principle could query what they had wrapped up Faith and Sarah headed towards the exit. As soon as they were in the car Faith got out her cell. "This is Agent Dormer I need a 411 on the Principle at Sunnydale High Robin Wood."

"I'm sorry Agent Dormer I don't recognise the code 411, please repeat your request."

Opening the car door Faith paused for a second. "Seriously? Look just look the guy up and get back to me." Faith hung up the phone and got into the car. Putting on her seatbelt she looked across at Sarah. "Belt up we're going to head back to the Summers, give Giles an update on what we found."

"Why does Dawn hate you so much?"

Faith stopped for a second with the key in the ignition. Then taking a deep breath she turned the car on. "The thing about me and the Sunnydale crew is that when I was first here I fucked up bad. Then I fucked up even worse by turning down their offers of help because hey I was Faith and I didn't need anyone. On top of it my so-called Watcher fucked me by calling in the Council's goon squad. I figured my only hope was to jump sides. Was so desperate I convinced myself up was down, black was white."

She looked at the frightened girl beside her who looked like she was a hair away from trying to bolt. "If you want to ask one of them the whole story I'm not going to stop you Sarah. And if you don't want to stay with me I understand. Just believe me when I say there is not a day that goes by that I wish things could have gone differently and I'm going to be spend the rest of the life trying to make up for the shit I've done."

The ride back to the house was silent but to Faith's relief Sarah at least didn't look like she thought it was safer to jump out of a moving vehicle. When they got to the house Sarah rushed a head and was through the door while Faith was still halfway up the path. By the time she got to the door herself she was just in time to see the Potential slip into the kitchen. Willow and Giles were sitting down at the table, books and notes strewn in front of them. 

Not wanting to open old wounds she plopped down across from Willow. "We've got a bit of a problem. There is a body on top of the Hellmouth. Some guy called Jonathan, apparently he went to school with you all." That got their attention especially Willow, for a split second Faith was sure she saw the redhead's irises go completely black.

"Good lord. Was the Hellmouth…"

Faith shook her head, as much to re-orientate herself as to answer Giles' question."No sign it had been opened. No foot prints or claw prints etc leading away from it. Hopefully it means whoever stabbed the guy screwed up. We've got cameras up. Gave Buffy the code so she can monitored them from her desk. I also put in a request with SHIELD for the low down on the principle. Dude got me tingling and not just in the good hot and sweaty kind of way."

Giles frowned as he went over the implications in his mind. "Well that is good to hear. About the Hellmouth I mean. And though I appreciate the initiative on looking into the principle I'm not sure how wise it is to get SHIELD involved."

Surprisingly she was saved from answering by Willow. "I don't know Giles. I mean they couldn't be much help directly. It would be like the Initiative all over again. But if things go wrong and the First succeeds..." There was silence for a good couple of seconds.

"Yes well. Let us make sure it does not come to that. If I remember correctly Jonathan flew the coop with the third member of their little gang."

"Andrew Wells, Buffy told me. I figured he was probably going to try and get more blood so I gave his details to all the local butchers etc along with my card, god it feels weird saying that, so hopefully he'll show up. "

Suddenly she got a ping on her SHIELD phone. Bringing it up she saw it was a file on Robin Wood. The more she went through it the more puzzled she got. "Hey Giles does the name Nikki Wood or Sam Crowley ring a bell."

The Watcher looked up, adjusting his glasses. "Yes Nikki Wood was a Slayer in the 70's. New York based if memory serves me correct. Why?"

Faith brought her phone up to her ear. "Because her kid is the Principle of Sunnydale High."

"Yo B its Faith. I think we may have an issue with your boss..." Suddenly Faith got another beep showing that she was getting an incoming call. "Hold on B this may be a lead on Andrew."

She swapped over to the inbound call. "Hello, yes this is F.. I mean Agent Dormer… You sure? How long ago? Alright thanks for the head ups. I mean thank you for your help citizen." She turned to look at the others. "Just got a lead on Andrew, he just visited a butchers and got some blood. The owner remembered him because he asked for toothpaste."

Giles took off his glasses. "There is a good chance he will head back to the school when it closes to complete, whatever it is he is trying to achieve."

"We should get a notification if anyone goes down there. The cameras we set up have motion detectors and wifi. If Buffy set everything up correctly on her computer with the net I should be able to bring up the feed, she should get it on her computer as well."

Faith looked down at her phone. "Hey Will you wouldn't have any idea how to get this thing off hold would you?"

* * *

A couple of hours later.  
After a rather boring afternoon of research, only broken by Giles getting a couple of phone calls, Buffy and Dawn trundled in from school. Shuffling Dawn up stairs a rather irate Buffy sat down at the table. "Robin confessed to being a Slayer's kid. I didn't tell him about Warren though, want to get a better feel about him first. We'll see how it goes this evening. He is going to finish up shortly and then pick up some things from his place. Apparently he has some things of his mum's he thinks Faith and I might find interesting. Xander and Anya are not too far off, they'll grab food on their way. How are things here?"

"On the research front. Not much better, I'm afraid we have very little to go on and nothing new from the Council. I have however had some rather interesting phone calls with other Watchers. Our group is about to get bigger, there are at least two Stateside that I have been in touch with that are on their way here with their potentials and several from Britain. Technically I am not supposed to have any direct contact with them for security purposes. But frankly since the First seems to already know where a lot of them are and with Travers dragging his feet I figured bugger it."

"Giles you rebel you."

Everyone shared a chuckle. Unfortunately the moment of levity was ruined by a buzz on Faith's phone. She looked down and opened a app, quickly punching in a password. "Hey guys it looks like we have some movement at the Hellmouth."

They all flocked around her looking at the video image on the screen.

"Wow that picture quality is amazing what is the pixel…" Willow blushed when she saw them all stare at her. "Sorry."

They all looked down at the picture and could clearly see a nervous looking Andrew heads down the stairs to the basement. And he definitely had a bag in his hands. 

They all saw a screen pop up with a simple query:  
Activate security measures: Yes / No

Before anyone could say anything Faith hit Yes.

Willow was the first to voice what they were all thinking. "Umm Faith what did you just do?"

"Chill Red, the first countermeasure he'll cross will just knock him out. Is Robin still on campus?"

"Yeah I think so and.." They all went silent as the screen went white for a second then came back to show Andrew sprawled on the ground. "'..there goes Andrew. I'll call Robin get him to bring it in."

Faith was starting to wander what sort of criteria the Powers that Be were going off with their champions. Robin did not have Blade's muscles but he was definitely another piece of sexy goodness.

The principle unceremoniously dumped a still stunned Andrew onto the sofa before turning to Buffy and announcing that he was heading back to his place to pick up "something my mother would have wanted you to have."

That got a curious raised eyebrow from Giles and a ticked off one from Faith as the comment was clearly aimed at just Buffy. When B corrected his "you" to "both of you" it was all Faith could do not to preen.

They tied Andrew to a chair upstairs in Buffy's bedroom and after a liberal dosing with cold water started on the questioning. Between the snivelling and random sci-fi references they were able to get out of him that the First had been appearing to him as Warren.They were still trying to get a coherent answer on why he thought killing Jonathan over a dug up hell mouth was a good idea when Xander and Anya arrived with Chinese. The table was tidied up and everyone (bar Andrew & Spike) settled down for food.

All eating and talking stopped at the sound of a knock at the door. With only a quick glance at each other they all started to move out of their seats. Giles stayed back in the entrance way from the kitchen in case anyone came in the backdoor whilest Buffy and Faith moved to the door. Looking at each other the two Slayers sheepishly realised the same thing. Agents of the First wouldn't knock.

Still cautious Buffy opened the door to find what could only be a Watcher and his Potential. Buffy stepped out of the way. "Giles the invasion has started."

Said Watcher came out of the kitchen with his eyebrows shooting up upon seeing who was coming through the door. "Geoffrey! Good to see you again old man." He grabbed the smaller man's hand with a relieved smile on his face. One which was more than happily returned.

"You're not such a spring chicken yourself Rupert. And this …" said Geoffrey bring the girl beside him front and centre. "Is my potential Ashley Banks."

Two extra plates were laid out for the starving newcomers who proceeded to give a description of their rushed escape from LA. The fact that Ashley's father was a judge and they had left two dead Bringers in the Watcher's apartment meant that they had to take extra precautions to make sure they could not be tracked by police. The car they had come in actually belonged to a Brachen that had owed him a favour. Where his own had ended up Geoffrey had no idea.

Once the dishes were done Dawn took Sarah and Ashley up to her room. While the Watchers stayed at the table Buffy pulled Faith and the Scoobies into the living room."We've got to come up with a plan. I mean we can't keep them all here. The girls would probably be okay sleeping on the floor but I can't see the tweed brigade being into it." She turned to Faith "How many could you take at your place?"

"I'm in a worse spot, only got a 2 bedroom house." There was also the office/safe room that she was not too keen on the Watchers finding out about but there were the other alterations that probably made it a bit safer. "SHIELD made a couple of changes that might make it a bit harder to storm then here but it is not exactly Fort Knox."

"Oh! I have been looking at doing some kind of protection spell you know no baddies may enter here. Giles and Butler, do we call him Butler? And does anyone else think that it is weird that his cover was actually as her butler? Anyway maybe they have some ideas but it could take a lot of magic, and you know what happened last time I dipped into that pool."

Smiling Xander and put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry Willow if you go all Darth on us we'll bring you back. Giles has some mojo, Butler and the rest may have some as well."

Faith scrunched her brow. "Surely there must be some other resources, magic users rather, in the area we can call on?"

"What about the rat." They all turned and looked at Anya. "I mean Amy or are we still not talking to her for making Willow a junkie."

"Hey that is harsh, well a little bit, I mean yeah she introduced me to Rack but I was the one who kept going back. I mean … umm … Xander?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Beggers can't be choosers? Look she has as much to lose by Earth being overrun by all evil and incorporeal like the rest of us."

Anya chipped back in. "She comes into the shop occasionally, I may have some of her contact details in our records. I keep a copy"

Feeling a little bit left out Faith thought she could chime in. "I could get SHIELD to try and pull up her details."

Buffy thought for the second then shook her head. "I admit it was useful having them pull up Robin's backstory but Amy is a known entity. And Giles does have a bit of a point we can't go running to them every time we need something for the offer though."

Nodding as the plan started to come together Buffy took on what Faith was starting to think of as her command pose. "Okay Anya and Xander you may as well head home, records can wait till morning. Unless you both want to crash here, safety in numbers etc. I just wished we had somewhere more secure. I'd almost say Angel's place with its high walls but it is on the edge of town and there is the sewer access we would have to block off."

Xander's eyes lit up."Cordellia's. The house is massive, 4 bedrooms, plus a pool house and the maid's flat above the garage. It was seized by the IRS and has been vacant ever since. Plus it has a big iron gates"

However Willow noticed a problem. "Uh one problem Xander, how are we going to afford to buy or rent it or whatever."

All eyes turned to the dining area, a smile forming on Buffy’s face. "Well this should be interesting, and here I was touting our independence. Guys get moving, I will do the pitch."

Xander and Anya heading off whilst Buffy went into the dinning room leaving Willow and Faith in a very awkward silence.  
"So have you seen the flying aircraft carrier yet?"

Faith blinked hard "Um sorry what?"

"The flying aircraft carrier, you know the one SHIELD is building." Seeing the look of incredibility on Faith's face a smug smile grew on Willow's own. "What you didn't know? Shield not trusting you with all their big juicy secrets?"

Trying to keep her cool Faith dipped her head, pinching her nose and closing her eyes. "SHIELD is a spy agency Willow, hell I doubt if Fury's 2IC Ma ..." Faith looked up, eyes narrowed. "Hang on a sec how do you know about it?"

Willow's cheeks almost went as red as her hair. "That, that's beside the point. This is about you not me."

"Not anymore. Will it really is not a good idea to mess around with these people or in their systems. Hell they may already know ..."

"Nope no way. No one can mix magic and hacking like me. Totally untraceable. I didn't even have to use the back doors that were already there."

Already feeling out of her depth Faith filed the 'backdoor' comment for later research. "You really want to risk your freedom on that? Maybe the only reason they haven't kicked down your door yet is they want to keep some leverage on you or Buffy."

Willow's nose flared. "You just don't like it that I'm not little miss kidnappee anymore. Well tough cookies I may not be a Slayer but I'm no wallflower anymore. More like turn you into one and then feed you into a mulcher. The actual flower that is cause I don't think you could actually fit a real person into a mulcher and if you could that would be just eww."

Raising her hands Faith tried to placate the redhead. "I've got it Red. And I'm not trying to mess with you just be careful alright. Buffy needs you here not in a orange jumpsuit."

"That's something you would know all about isn't it?"

"Dam it Willow! I'm trying to be..." Suddenly the front door and window crashed in as Bringers started to flood the house. 

They were so quick Faith barely had time to get her blade out, instinctively stepping in front Willow as she did so. The Slayer met the first Bringer head on, paring its blade with her own and ramming her free hand in to its larynx. Flipping it around she pushed it back towards its brethren, shoving her blade between its shoulders as she did so. It gave her enough time to pull out her back up knife which she quickly plunged into another Bringer as she blocked its downward swing. Without really looking she flipped it around and stabbed in the back the Bringer Willow was struggling with. At the same time she threw her other one at a Bringer that was about to gut Dawn.

Drawing her gun she killed the last two coming through the window. Seeing one making a exit out the door she fired again missing the back of it's head by a inch. Faith rushed to the door gun drawn as somewhere behind her she heard glass break. She nailed one in the back and then took down another as out of the corner of her eye she saw a quick moving flame. Hardly thinking she turned and fired. The flame was coming from the top of a bottle and caught the Bringer at the start of it's throw. 

Her bullet smashed through it's hand, the bottle, and into it's upper chest which quickly caught fire along with it's arm. Silently burning the Bringer turned to face Faith. Effectively shielding it's two similarly armed brethren behind it. By the time Faith got all three down the damage had been done. She darted back inside to see the couch, curtains and a alarming amount of the floor up in flames.

Smoke was everywhere. Faith could see Willow doubled over, waving her arms like she was trying to do a spell to put it out. It wasn't working. She saw Giles dart from the dining room to help the red head. Dawn and Sarah hesitantly on his heels. Instinctively Faith intercepted the two and dragged them out the door, stopping just before the sidewalk to see if there were any Bringers still around. She thought she saw two down the street, one of them looked like it might have even been carrying ...

"Let me go! Buffy!" Turning around Faith was in time to see Sarah take a elbow to the face as a frantic Dawn surged back towards the house.

The flames were flickering out of the window. Illuminating the two figures staggering out the door. Dawn hardly slowed down when she saw it was Giles holding up a struggling Willow. She was heading straight for the door when Faith caught up with her. Forced to pick the squirming girl up she backed up from the burning house as flames became clearly visible through the doorway. "Buffy!"

Suddenly Faith saw movement around the side of her house. To her relief it was Buffy and Butler supporting a clearly disoriented Spike. Faith took over from Buffy allowing the older girl to be wrapped up in a hug by Dawn. Once they got back to the sidewalk they all turned around to watch the house go up. Buffy turned to Willow, grabbing the girl gently by both shoulders. "Willow are you okay?"

The red head nodded. "Yeah. I'm so sorry Buffy I tried to stop the first one but it exploded and then there was smoke and fire and more smoke and..."

"Do you know what happened with Andrew?" Buffy looked around. "Does anyone know what happened to Andrew? When I was in the kitchen I thought I heard a thump on the back lawn but I had to get Spike when the fire started."

A sick feeling filled Faith's stomach. "I thought I saw a Bringer hightail it out of here, it looked like it had something on its shoulder but I was stuck stopping this one (pointing at Dawn) trying to run back in after you. They must have climbed onto the awning out back and chucked his skinny ass out the window. Snuck him around the side while we were trying to get people out"

They all turned to look at the burning house. Their emotions matching the flames that were flickering out of the broken window. More could be seen through the unbroken one looking into the dining room.

Buffy turned to Willow, grabbing her friend's army in desperation. "Willow do you think you could still..."

"I ... I don't know I mean it has spread so far and..." They all turned at the sound of the incoming sirens. The fire engine came to a screeching holt and the fire fighters. One asked if there was still anyone left in the building then went to join the others.

They all stood there in silence as the house burned.


	16. Chapter 16

They were all brought back to reality by Robin pulling up with a box of Slayer heirlooms and a look of disbelief on his face.

Realising they needed to get off the street they headed to the closest secure place. Faith's house.

Once everyone had shambled in and sat down the house was filled with a different type of silence. Even Faith was finding it difficult to comprehend that the Summers' house was gone, it had symbolised nearly everything she had never had. That she had got close to with Diane. Shaking it off she got off the chair arm she was perched on and faced the group. And then promptly faltered as she saw everyone looking at her. "Does anyone want anything to drink? All I've got, we've got sorry, is juice and water. And ahh milk I guess."

Everyone settling on water Faith made her way over to the kitchen. Hearing movement behind her she was surprised to see Dawn getting up to help. Wordlessly the two went into the kitchen. Dawn went to the fridge and Faith to the cupboards for glasses. "Do you have any jugs or trays in this place."

Faith looked at Dawn then around at the kitchen, realising there was so much about 'her' house that she didn't know. "Umm not sure. Everything was kind of set up when we got here apart from the food. Maybe they’re in one of the cupboards?"

Rolling her eyes Dawn walked over to the pantry only to pause with the handle of the pantry door in her hand. Faith looked over to see the younger girl's shoulders starting to shudder. Walking over Faith gingerly put a hand on her shoulder. "Umm Dawn."

She was stunned when the girl turned around and enveloped her in a hug. Faith hardly had time to process this before Dawn stumbled back, tear filled eyes wide open as she realised who she had accidentally turned to for comfort. The younger girl went around the counter and started heading back towards the living room. Stopping she turned her head to look down the hallway then back towards Faith. She didn't even have to ask. "Second door on the left."

Dawn just nodded then headed down the hallway, trying to look composed. Sighing Faith went back to the pantry. Sticking her head in she couldn't help but chuckle when she discovered not only a jug but a tray as well. Getting both down she turned around to find Buffy leaning against the counter.

"Jesus B. When did you get so sneaky? If you're looking for Dawn she's in the bathroom … freshening up its the second..."

"Second door to the left yeah I heard." Buffy towards the corridor. "I'll give her a minute then head over. Are you okay here?"

"Yeah 5 by 5." Not trusting herself to look at her fellow Slayer Faith started to fill up the jug from the tap. "For what it is worth I'm sorry about your place. It seemed to be just the first floor when we left so maybe there is still stuff..."

"Don't, just don't." Buffy looked down for a second, there weren't tears forming but to Fairh she still looked tired, disturbingly tired. "I'll go check on her, you okay with all this?"

Faith nodded finishing filling up the jug. Trying to figure out how to tell Buffy she had basically asked the same question twice. By the time she had got out the rest of the glasses and filled up a tray Buffy was gone.

Trying to force a smile onto her face she took the tray in. All she got in return was a couple of tired smiles but she was content that it was the best she would get under the circumstances. She was getting comfortable sitting on the edge of a sofa when Giles spoke up. "We were just speaking about our next moves as such. With what just happened we need to sort out more accommodation quickly. I'll put a call in to the Council and see if I can get some emergency funds sent our way. I was in the process of getting some of my own finances moved across which we can use if necessary but I fear it would not be enough."

Running a hand through his hair Xander nodded his head. "Atleast it shouldn't take much to get the place up and running. I drove by the place a couple of weeks ago and from the outside atleast it looked okay. Would be best to make sure none of the usual Hellmouth denizens have set up camp though."

Clearing his throat Butler put down his glass "If I may I would like Ashley to accompany you. I can assure you I have done what I can training wise but I cannot think of any better learning experience them accompanying two Slayers."

All eyes turned to the rather wide eyed Potential, Faith being the one to speak up. "What do you say little A are you up for it? Cause you have to realise what just happened wasn't the real deal. They were aiming to retrieve Andrew and maybe Spike, not looking for a rumble."

"I want to come to! I mean can I come Miss Dormer? I'm sure that I am atleast as well trained as Ashley." A competitive glance was shared between the two, followed by an almost comically identical attempt to pretend it didn't happen.

With a grin Faith looked at the two. "We'll go during the day, with Robin on board it shouldn't be hard to free B up to join the fun." Seeing Dawn comeback into the room Faith raised an eyebrow. Dawn looked back at the Slayer, her eyes red. She had hardly taken a step into the room before she disappeared behind a circle of Scoobies.

Getting off her perch Faith slipped around the huddling Scoobies and headed towards the short hallway which had the doors to the bathroom and laundry. Noticing the backdoor was open Faith drew her gun and gently pulled the door open only to find Buffy sitting on the steps. Quietly Faith put her gun back into her holster and tried to edge back inside to give her some privacy.

She was not quiet enough though. "I did use to wonder what it must have been like for you. To run all the way across the country from everything you knew, everything you had. Even after mum… even when I was in LA part of me knew that the house would always be there even if I wasn't sure it would ever be home again."

Even though Buffy wasn't looking at her Faith still found herself shrugging. "Hadn't quite got there with D's place, or with D for the matter, but was definitely getting close. The way things were going before I meet her I would have been lucky to have ended up as a old lady for one of the Sons." Nervously Faith started to clear her throat, she was just not use to all this heart to heart stuff. "We still haven't looked at the goodies Robin has yet. Should warn you though there was a group hug going on in there when I Ieft and it may still be going."

Looking up Buffy gave her a wary smile."Thanks for the heads up." She got a pensive look on her face. "Do you think the First will try to open the Hellmouth using Andrew? I mean I take it you weren't able to get the tablet out of the house?"

Faith panicked for a second before a light bulb clicked on in her head. Quickly she pulled out her cell and started to bring up the surveillance equipment. Holding her breath she waited for it to start to load, subconsciously aware that Buffy was now standing beside her. Both breathed in relief when a 'Un-activated' message came up. "Whatever it wants from him either doesn't have anything to do with the Hellmouth or it hasn't gone there yet. Could it know about the devices we planted?"

Scoffing Faith looked around, seeing nothing but a empty back lawn "Hell it could be watching us right now." She turned to her fellow Slayer. "This thing is going to be one cast iron bitch to take down."

Nodding her head Buffy ran her hand through her hair. "Nothing we can do about that it standing out here. Let's get back inside to the others you Mrs Robinson want-to-be-you and see what we can do to put a spanner in the First's plans."

Faith nodded her head, giving the backyard one last look before Buffy's words sank in. "Wait a second, who the hell is Mrs Robinson? Hey B wait up."

The First watched the two Slayers going back inside, invisibly smiling to itself. It actually had not been aware of any traps at the Hellmouth. Despite what the two meatbags seemed to think it did have other things do, people torment, Bringers to watch. It was about to join them inside to see what else it had over looked when it suddenly felt a faint tug, a call from something that was not one of its acolytes.

Drawing on the link it found himself in a railway yard facing what to an unknowing observer would appear to be an elderly looking man with graying brown hair. He walked towards the First with a hunched back and using a cane with a glass skull on the top of it. Chuckling in amusement the fellow chamelon moved forward to stand in front of the First

"I had heard you had shown up again on this realm. You are not really going by the First now are you? Personally I would have stuck with Amatsu-Mikabosh, it has much more of a ring to it. "

The First / Amatsu-Mikabosh smirked. "And who do you think you are kidding with that cane? I am not some stupid fool you've tricked out of their soul."

Nodding his head in acknowledgment Mephisto's cane dematerialised. Standing up straight he walked forward. "Your presence here is as not as welcomed as you may think. There are those of us..."

"Do you think I care about the likes of you?! I am the Void! I am forever. Without me there can be no Eternity and there can be no Eternity without me. Infinity stones are mere trinkets compared to the power I have had at my command."

"Yet here you are, trying to free yourself from a prison by killing a bunch of teenage girls."

Amatsu-Mikabosh bristled but could not argue. The Slayer was no longer, if she ever had been, the pre-eminent threat to it to taking and holding this world. But to fully free itself from its dimensional prison it needed the power stolen from its connection to Eternity. As long as that power was fuelling the Slayer line and calling one Slayer after another it would be stuck. The only reason it had managed to slip out this far was the Slayer Buffy's multiple resurrections.

"Wanted or not you cannot stop my arrival. I will take over this realm and when I am done I will finish what I started with the gods of it." It tilted it's head to the side morphing into another person's image. "Things do not have to be this way between us. Join with me. Help me and you can expand further then you could ever dream."

Scoffing Mophisto stared back at the apparition in front of him. "You truly believe I would trust you?" He shook his head. "Even if I was foolish enough I cannot see any reason to join with you. I have found there is no enjoyment in ruling, only problems. I come to this realm for fun. It amuses me to play with the minds and souls of its inhabitants, the more pure the better." He strolled up till he was right in front of the First. "And I cannot do that if they are all dead. Not to mention there are other forces who will probably seek to intervene."

The First laughed. "Who? I all but wiped out the pantheons of this world aeons ago. I have shielded myself from Odin's golden-eyed watch dog and this world's Sorcerer Supreme. Gaea is all but gone, poisoned by the Hellmouth which will finish her once I open it permanently. She won't even have a resting place in the Deeper Well with her brethren." It looked at Mophisto, all pretence of comradeship gone. "I will have this planet and then all others. Either join with me or stay out of the way. Those are your only two options."

Mophisto didn't even bother thinking about it. "We will not need to meet like this again. I would wish you luck Amatsu-Mikabos but I think we both know it would be ... disingenuous." The First stared at the other demon lord then with a final snarl disappeared.

A well dressed figure stepped out from around an empty train carriage "That was enlightening. On behalf of Wolfram and Heart I would like to thank you for your assistance with this matter Lord Mephisto."

"Lord Mephisto. Well well aren't you a polite one. Hamilton isn't? Marcus Jonathan I believe." He chuckled and looked up at the sky. "I remember when the Wolf, the Ram and the Hart where little more than performing creatures amusing the Elder Gods. Even now they are too scared to take on Amatsu-Mikabosh directly." He turned and looked at their emissary. "They are to do what they can to keep his pitiful acolytes away from the covens and sorcerers of this world and I will look at hampering it elsewhere."  
Hamilton nodded his head in agreement, though being this long off company grounds was starting to visibly show his expression remained stoic.

Unfortunately for him Mophisto had not finished his monologue. "Have you ever read Animal Farm Mr Hamilton? Marvellous book. A bunch of animals think they are free because they ran their owner off. Yet they do not leave the farm. They live in buildings on it that were built by humans, try and use equipment and materials manufactured by humans. Completely unable to create anything to match."

He walked up to the Wolfram and Hart representative. "Run back to your masters. Tell them in this instance I will do what they cannot because it is in my interest to do so but next time..." He leaned in next to Hamilton's ear. "Next time there will be a price to pay souls or not."

By the time Hamilton turned around the demon lord had already disappeared. Straightening his tie he pulled out a cell and went his own way.

Meanwhile back at Faith's.  
There had been somewhat of a awkward silence as the non-Scoobies waited for the hug to be done with. Giles was the first to realise it and with a very fake cough pulled away from the group.

As everyone settled down Robin stepped forward with a canvas bag in his hand. He looked between Faith and Buffy before down at the box. "As most if not all of you know me mother Nikki Wood was a Slayer. I was raised by her Watcher after she died. He was the one who gave me this, something that was handed down to the Slayer before my mother."  
With reverence he placed it down on the table. "Part of me knows that he shouldn't have given it to me, that it should have been past along but I won't apologise for keeping it." He looked up at both Slayers but both were too busy thinking of their own losses to argue.

Subconsciously both girls moved forward, neither comprehending what the other one had done till they saw the other's hand hovering above it. The two Slayers looked at each other, neither wishing to budge though Faith's hand was trembling despite her best efforts.

She didn't think she had ever been so unsure in her entire life. Yes Buffy may be the first called of the two of them but the line ran through her now. Even with her screw ups surely that meant the bag was for her. Right?

Faith was startled when the bag was suddenly zipped open, the top brushing her fingers. Looking up she saw Xander give a nervous shrug. "Sorry, you know patience has never been my thing. And I don't know about the rest of you but I could really use some sleep about now."

Buffy looked up at Faith as the others started to crowd in. The two Slayers started digging into bag pulling out various pieces including a box which Buffy opened to pull out what looked like cut-out metal figurines. Buffy looked up at Robin holding one up for him to look at."Any idea what the story is with these?"

"Actually Buffy." Said Giles as he picked up another piece that looked like a demon. "That is exactly what it is, or what they do rather. They're shadow catchers, you place them around this centre piece and rotate them to tell a story." He looked at the piece then the ones Buffy and Faith were holding. "I wander what the significance of it is and where it originates from. The pieces appear to be made out of bronze and crudely made at that. Quite extraordinary."

Reaching up to take the piece from his hand she placed it along with the one she was holding back in the box. "We can discuss this later. As Xander said we all need to get some sleep." She looked apologetically at Giles. "Apart from you and me Giles we need to get on the horn to England. We're going to need those funds like right now."She blinked and then looked at Butler. "You can be in it as well I guess."

And then she switched her attention to Faith. "Would it be alright if we, if some of us atleast, crashed here? I'm just worried that the First may try again."

A small part of Faith wanted to retort that there was a motel she knew about they could stay at but she bite her tongue and just nodded her head. "They're some extra linen around. Think there may even be a couple of sleeping bags in the basement."

Buffy stared at her for a second then before letting out a breath. "Okay people let's move."

* * *

London  
Travers took a sip of his whiskey. Really it was a little early in the day but he felt after the conversation he just had with Rupert and that insufferable Slayer of his he would be okay as long as he left it at just this one small glass. He could not risk losing focus, not now.

Picking it up he was about to put it back in the cabinet when his phone range. Putting the bottle back down he picked up the receiver. "This is Travers."

"Mr Travers this Lady Nyssa."

The head Watcher blinked hard for a second then forced himself to relax. "I have been expecting your call Lady Nyssa. I would give you my condolences for your father but I think we both know it would be somewhat disingenuous."

"Be that as it may it is expected considering the link between our two organisations and are agreement."

"I have not forgotten our history Lady Nyssa." He said as he sank back into his chair. "But I think there may be a misunderstanding. All agreements were technically between your father and the sitting head of the Watchers Council." What neither needed to say was if it had been shared even with the full Internal Council there would have full blown revolt by those unable to accept the full picture.

"I know what the nature of the agreements were Mr Travers. Particularly when it came to information sharing. Tell Mr Travers, when were you planning to tell us about the attacks by the First?"

Travers found himself unscrewing the whiskey bottle with his left hand. "That is an internal matter. This is not the first time that this organisation has been attacked and it will not be the last. We...

"Save the speech Mr Travers and the lies. Your organization is being wiped out by a entity that wants to destroy the world. I want to know if you have a plan and if so what it is."

He took a sip of his whiskey. "We are in the process of consolidating our forces and then are going to march on the Hellmouth. Face the problem head on. "

There was silence for a second on the other end. "I would suggest moving quickly. If I were the First I would be looking to attack your headquarters."

Feeling his blood rise Travers was about to retort when a thought struck him. They believed the First was able to appear as anyone who had died. To have access to all their memories. Which would include those who had designed the wards here.

Bugger.

The conversation went on for another couple of tense minutes. Putting the receiver down Travers swallowed the rest of his glass. Feeling the warmth traverse through him he blinked and then looked down at the glass and then the bottle. "Damn it."

Placing the glass down he pressed the intercom. "Mrs Pound can you bring in a pitcher of water and a glass please." He rubbed his forehead then grabbed both offending items to put away, trying to place his thoughts in order as he did so.

By the time Mrs Pound came in with the tray he was back at his desk sorting through his notes. He did not even bother to look up as she put the tray down."Thank you Mrs Pound. I would like you to set up a Inner Council meeting in an hour."

Her response however did cause him to look up. "Yes sir. Though with all due respect may I suggest that I schedule it for two hours to give you more time to prepare? Perhaps I could get you something to eat as well?"

Trying not to wince like a school boy caught wagging he merely nodded his head. Once she left he picked up the phone and called America. "Rupert this is Travers. Do what you have to do to purchase the place or something similar. Expect the first arrivals in 36 hours. That is all." It was time for the Watchers Council to go to war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went down the trippy rabbit hole of the Marvel supernatural to see not only who would be a good fit as the First but to figure out why it would be focused on the Slayers when you have the Sorcerer Supreme etc. After feeling like I'd fail a drugs test without taking said drugs I decided to settle on Amatsu-Mikabosh. Way I figure it if Marvel can twist a figure of Japanese mythology for their purposes I can twist their version of it for my purposes. This chapter is probably the deepest dive I'll be taking into the First's backstory as I don't want anyone feeling like they have to have a Marvel wiki open to keep track of who’s who.
> 
> And yep that was a Sons of Anarchy reference earlier.


	17. Hesitant connections

John Blacksmith cracked his neck as he tried to figure out what he was doing staking out some gentleman’s club. Granted even by English standards it seemed to be an extremely old one but compared to his last assignment monitoring the Hellfire Club he couldn’t figure out what MI5s fascination was with it. Scotland Yard maybe as they had seen a couple of young girls come in and out but nothing up their alley. He looked over at the rest of his team Greg Caldwell and Ben Johnson who seemed to struggling as he was to remain interested in what they were doing.

Suddenly the shockwave of an explosion rocked the van sending John and the other two men inside bracing themselves as everything went tumbling around them. Their professionalism saw them recover quickly with Ben getting out of the van whilst John leaned over the shoulder of Greg who had been monitoring the video feed. “Did you see an external cause?”

“No. There was no one on the street and there was no signs of a trail from a missile. And I don’t think it was a gas leak, the entire second floor is gone. ”

“Shit. Call it in then start up the engine.” He got out and raced to join Ben who had stopped well short of the debris zone.

“Jesus John. Someone did a real number on these guys. The bosses aren’t going to be too happy about this, they were both hoping for some intel.”

“Yeah well nothing we can do about it now. Come on we have to scamper before the civvies start turning up with their cell.”

“Right, besides I doubt they were friendly to the cause.” Ben turned to his long time friend. “Hail Hydra.”

Trying not to role his eyes at his more zealous colleague, John grabbed him by the arm. “Yeah, hail Hydra. Now come on.”

Several hours later.

Travers stretched his arms. Even on a private plane he had never found the flight across the Atlantic a comfortable one. Waiting till his security confirmed the area was secure he got up and out of the plane. He knew the refuelling wouldn't take long but he wasn't going to remain cooped up on the plane, especially with what he expected had happened to the headquarters.

He had been informed the hanger saw enough usage to warrant its own small waiting area and even a small conference room for those passing through like himself. And he definitely wanted to use their phone as he doubted that it was a problem with the one on the plane that was stopping him from getting through to anyone back in London.

Stepping inside he took notice of the two business men waiting as one of his staff walked up to a young blonde woman sitting at the desk to ask her where the room was. 

"I can help you with that."

He turned around to find one of the 'business men' standing up. "Or if you wish we can talk in here. We won't be disturbed. Your men can even keep their sidearms" Hearing a noise behind him Travers turned back to the desk to see the young lady holding a badge in her left hand, her right nearly out of view as it hovered below the counter. 

Looking at his guards and staff he nodded at them to relax then took a seat opposite the two agents. As he got himself comfortable he scrutinized the two men, automatically identifying the speaker as the senior of the two with his assistant or possibly bodyguard. Neither matched the description Roberts had given him but for some reason the assistant looked vaguely familiar. 

"I suppose I can give you a couple of minutes but that is all. I have several rather important calls to make. Mr ...?" 

"It's Agent actually, but you knew that already. Agent Coulson. And as you have the ability to make calls on the jet I can only assume you wish to try and reach your headquarters on another line. Unfortunately I can confirm it has been destroyed. For what it is worth you have my condolences." 

Travers sat there silently as it sunk in, simply bowing his head in acknowledgment. "We have taken a blow yes but this not the first time our organisation... "

Agent Coulson held up his hand. "I'm sorry I don't mean to interrupt. Well actually I do but your organisation no longer exists. It has become a bunch of life rafts, trying to keep each other in sight whilst aiming for shore. We know that shore is Sunnydale and want to help you all get there." 

Slowly getting up Coulson reached into his pocket and pulled out a card. "If any of your people get into trouble in transit call this number. Head of our LA office is Agent Mills he'll be your main contact. He's originally from your side of the pond so I think you'll like him."

Standing up Travers took the card, no reason to be discourteous. "Your offer of assistance is appreciated but as you can see we are perfectly capable of moving around ourselves"

"It's not for you." Travers looked at Agent Coulson's assistant, surprised an underling would have the audacity to speak. "It is for the Potentials and the ones bringing them over." The 'assistant' stood up and took a step forward. "You do have someone bringing them over right? I couldn't help but notice there doesn't appear to be any with you." He took another step forward, physically and morally looking down at the head Watcher. "Or were you too busy saving your own necks?"

Warning signals were going off in Travers' head as he tried to remember where he had seen this face before. It was a long time ago in an old file with black and white photos. Which made no sense as the man was only.... Ah.

The Watcher looked over to Agent Coulson who just shrugged his shoulders. "My colleague here has a point."

"Our ways are not for you or your colleague here to judge Agent Coulson and I have no inclination to explain them to you or Captain Rogers here." He turned towards the almost mythological American war hero. "My father was the liaison for the Council with the OSS. He always doubted the story of your demise."

"I did what I had to do." Steve took another half step forward, right into what he knew the limey would consider his personal space. "And I would be willing to do it again. But I'm not here to talk about me. I'm here because we know about your history with the team already in Sunnydale. I'm here to remind you that you are only being allowed in to help them. If I...if we...hear anything to the contrary then we'll be throwing you out to face the Bringers on your own."

The following silence was only broken when Coulson cleared his throat. "What my colleague is saying is that we have a working relationship with Miss Summers and her people. As well as with Miss Lehane who I am sure you know is already there." Slowly he reached into the inner pocket of his jacket. "Here are the contact details for the head of our LA office Agent Mills if you need anything. He was from your side of the pond originally so I'm sure you'll get along."

"But the refueling ..."

"Already taken care of." 

Travers' eyes narrowed at this but said nothing. He did not even a offer a handshake just gave a simple "gentlemen" as he turned on his heels and walked out the door. 

As they watched the plan take off Steve turned to the senior agent. "So was it worth it," Coulson looked over to Steve. "Making them land to have that chat." 

"The Director thought it was important for them to remember that others have a stake in this fight." The two made their way back to the car. "We've got our first I.D on one of the Bringers. Whatever they go through messes with their DNA and fingerprints but their dental remains the same. We I.D the rest we get a picture on the type of people being recruited. By tracking their movements eventually we'll we get an idea on where they meet. Possibly even find more of them."

A voice that appeared in the back of Steve’s head as got into the car, one that sounded suspiciously like Faith, told him it wouldn't be that easy. He hated to admit it but Faith basically ordering him to stay behind still stung on more levels then he wanted to think about.

"You alright there Cap?"

"Five by five. Okay then let's go, you got an address?."

"Others are handling that. The Boss has got another assignment for you. You’re going up to Westchister. Someone Fury wants you to meet. "

“He found a supernatural expert? Another Watcher?”

Without looking away from the wheel Coulson handed him a tablet. "Actually an expert on gentics who has turned his family's home into a private boarding school. We also believe him to believe a mutant with telepathic abilities and the students to be likewise.

Frowning Steve looked at the intelligence in front of him “And your worried what he might be teaching them? As much as I hate to say it but considering some of the powers these mutants are supposed to have keeping some of them seperated as they learn to control there abilities may not be a bad thing. Even if it smacks of segregation.” Finding out about the civil rights had been one of the highlights of his look into what had happened since he had been gone. Gabe had been largely silent on what he had faced back home but Steve had no doubt that it wasn't pleasant. 

“Only to an extent. There haven't been any unusal incidents reported in the surrounding area and one of the most vocal opponents of the Mutant Registration Act; Dr Grey, seems to live there on atleast semi-permanent bases. On the other hand he has also visited Erik Lehnsherr, aka Magneto, regulary in prison. “

As they started to pull away from the terminal they watched the Watcher's plane take off. "Did you think the life raft metaphor was too much? I had this whole thing planned out in my head about light houses and the coast guard."

Smiling slightly at Coulson's comment Steve put on his seatbelt. "It was perfect, so back to HQ?"

"Back to HQ."

He had been awoken from ice, fought mutated vampires in storm drains, and now was about to meet a paraplegic physic in his home / boarding school / secret base. God he wished Bucky was around to talk too to make sense of all this. He would even settle for Howard, as for Peggy... Leaning back in his seat the memory of his visit to her weight heavily on his mind.

"Everything alright sir? We're about 4 minutes out from the entrance."

He nodded his head and straightened his shoulders. Despite Faith's's teasing to the contrary even he needed to remind himself not to slouch occasionally. The fact the gate was open and they were able to drive straight through did nothing to lift the feeling that their entry had been noted.

As they came up to the school Steve could help but feel better that the building was being used as such. The idea of a building of this size being used by just one family seemed excessive. By the time they pulled up to see stop there was a white haired African American woman waiting for them midway down the stairs.

There was a polite smile on her face but she did not stretch out a hand. "Good morning my name is Orono Munro. I am a teacher her at Xavier's School for the Gifted how can we help you today. Mr ..."

Stepping forward he put on what he hoped was a disarming smile. "Rogers, Steve Rogers and this is Agent Sirico from SHIELD. I would like to speak to Professor Xavier please."

The hand was accepted even if the smile wasn't returned. "May I ask what it is concerning?"

Her accent was American but Steve could pick a hint of something underneath. And up close he wasn't so sure her hair colour was by choice.

He had debated with himself on the best way of approaching this. The blunt truth seemed to be the best option. If Fury wanted a spy he should have sent someone else. "Personally I'm here because I've been told the professor may be able to help with a problem." Steve took a deep breath. "But I'm also here because my boss knows this place is not just a school. He wants a read on what you really do here, what your group hopes to accomplish." 'And if you're a threat' was left unsaid but from the look on Miss Munroe's face the implications were understood.

As she lead Steve through the converted mansion he couldn't help but take in his surroundings. He could hear movement and voices but there were no students. Were they in classes or was the place in lockdown?

"It's awfully quiet in hear for a school."

"The seniors have PE, juniors are in class."

He was lead into a spacious study. Professor Xavier was in front of his desk, a woman with short red head by his side that SHIELD's file put as Dr Jean Grey.  
[ ] What ever concerns they may have had about his visit the smile on the Professor's face did seem to be genuine. Pushing a button on his chair the paraplegic moved his chair forward "Captain Rogers I must say it is an unexpected honour to meet you. Welcome to my home, I'm afraid all I have on hand is some water but I can have someone bring tea or coffee if you prefer." Reaching down for the out strechead hand Steve tried to hide his surprise that he had immediately been recognised without giving his name. Even the few times he had used it outside of SHIELD everyone assumed he had been named after himself. Some would give a double take when they see him walk past them, even ask if they knew him from somewhere or were a friend of their sons. One had even asked if he was related to Steve Rogers. But then again the man's abilities and background maybe he shouldn't have been. "Water is fine thank you." 

Steve settled into the only proper guest chair there seemed to be in the study with Dr Grey sitting in a fold out chair. Considering there were more of them stacked against the wall he assumed that the room doubled as a class room. As he got comfortable the Professor wheeled himself to the other side of the desk. "I have heard rumors over the years of attempts to replicate your treatment. Everything from rebuilding Dr Reinstein's chamber to a pill regime given to soldiers. I'm afraid to say I don't believe many of the participants were given the same chance to give consent that you were."

Sighing Steve nodded his head. "After what happened with Schmidt, the Red Skull, he was always worried about his work falling into the wrongs hands. It's why he never wrote it down." All he had wanted to do was to be able to successfully stand up to a bully, any bully, and the Nazis seemed to be the worst of them.

Professor Xavier leaned forward. "Forgive me for saying this but as much I'd love to hear your story I sense you are not here for pleasantries."

"No I'm not unfortunately. Thank you." He looked up as Ms Munro placed a glass of water in front of him. Taking a breath Steve opened a file. "As I mentioned to Miss Munroe..." he indicated over his shoulder to where she was now standing by the door..."SHIELD sent me. Probably hoping that I'd seem less threatening then one of their senior agents. And also because I don't have many secrets to spill. Not current ones anyway." He leant forward. "Look I know you have no reason to trust us. And to be honest I'm not sure I would in your shoes. But I know Fury's not the type to going to send in troops after a bunch of kids unless he thinks he absolutely has to. He may even be able to turn away anyone else from doing the same."

The Professor studied him for a minute then sighed. "I do not need to use my abillities to see you are being genuine. But you must understand my first priority, our first priority (indicating to his two teachers), is the safety of my students. To provide them a safe place away from persecution where they can learn to control their abilities. Maybe even learn ways to do good with them to the betterment the of all.

Taking a sip of his water Steve looked at his Dr Gey and then over his shoulder at Ms Munro before putting his glassdown and looking back "Tell me something then. How many of the people that you're putting out into the field started as students here? I may be playing catch up but even I can understand some of the comparisons that could be made."

"Just as not all children who go to a military academy go on to join the military any student who comes here is more then welcome to make their own way in the world."

Steve studdied the Professor for a second before nodding his head in consent. "I'll let the Director know but there is a second reason why I'm here." He opened the file and took out a picture of a Bringer and put it down on the desk. "We call them Bringers. Their acolytes of something called the First."

As Professor Xavier picked up the picture Dr Grey came around the desk to look as well. Behind him Steve could also here Ms Munro hesitantly make her way forward. "The First what?"

"The First Evil. To be clear it's not a mutant that has gone off the deep end but, but well could be exactly what he or it says it is."

Taking the picture from the Professor Dr Grey looked like she thought Steve wa joking, which he couldn't really blame her. "Surely this must be some kind of a joke."

The Professor looked up at the Doctor and for a second Steve could have sworn he saw something flicker across the Professor's face. "I may be a man of science Jean, but I still recognise that there are forces out there beyond our understanding or control. Never forget that." The Professor looked across his desk at Steve, "I take you believe this First is somehow controlling them, that they have not develpoed an internal way to compensate for their loss of physical sight." Do you know who he was? 

"His name was James Matthews, joined a gang called The Foot in his teens. Served time for receiving stolen goods." He looked at the Professor and then around at the others. "Not only do we think this thing has the ability to help these things see but it can also appear as the deceased, people you care about."

"The perfect way to recruit to a cult." He picked up the picture and studied it for a long second before sighing and putting it down. "I've got no idea what could cause this, or how to possible undo what has been done. I'm sorry young man but I don’t know how I can help you any further. And off the top of my head I can't think who could but if I do I assure you I'll make what enquiries I can. The fact that it is only projecting and has not personally become involved suggests to me it must be restrained from doing so or is physically weak . It may not even be in this dimension. "

Steve nodded in acceptance. "To be honest part of me knew it was a long shot. But unfortunately the people whose expertise it is have just been hit hard." He looked at the Professor and then at the others. "There is no way of knowing how much it knows of about your kind. Maybe even this place."

"I have an idea."

They all looked at Jean. "I'm like the professor. If you can find some way to capture one. I might be able to communicate with it."

"No! Absolutely not. To do what it can do it must atleast have a telepathic ability. There is no telling what could happen if you manage to link with this First. It may even be able to control you."

"The Professor is the expert on this best we follow his advice. But there may come a time when we have no choice."

Reaching into his pocket Steve pulled out a card and made to hand it over to the Professor before stopping to also pull out a pen. Putting it face down on the table he wrote a number on the back. "If you think of anything directly related to what we are dealing with call this number. It belongs to my ... partner Faith whose on the front lines of all this. Anything else call me."

He put out his hand. "It has been a pleasure meeting you Professor. For what it's worth I like what you're trying to do here."

"Please call me Charles and I hope you don't mind if I call you Steve."

"Not all." He turned to the other two "Mam."

"Jean"

"Orro or Storm"

As Orro escorted him out Charles sent a message to the rest of the X-men. By the time she got back the rest of the team had gathered. The mood was apprehensive, even the Professor seemed tense which was enough to have her worried. "Jean check the jet, we will give it a couple of nights and then if I sense the area is clear I'm sendng you after Logan. I want him back here not only to help to defend the school but there is no telling how something like this First will use his memory loss against him." "Do you really think we're under survelliance?" "Full time? Unlikly, but it is possible that they will put us under it for the next couple of days to see what we do after Steve's visit. I would wait longer but somehow I don't think we have the time." 

 

Sunnydale

Buffy was nervous, she couldn’t help it. There could be no power speech this time, no negotiating. The Watcher’s Council was all but destroyed and what was left was turning up on her door step. These were people who either had no experience in desperation, or had not had to deal with it for so long their tweed probably hadn’t been stitched or woven or whatever yet. And she knew what desperation could make people do. Plus there was the knowledge that SHILED was hanging around somewhere in the background. Sighing she straightened up as she saw the plane come in, keeping her eyes peeled for any sign of Bringers.

The plan door opened and the Watcher’s came down, looking annoyingly prissy despite their long journey. Though there was a couple that looked decidedly less stuffy then the rest. She didn’t even know they weren’t allowed to wear ties. 

After what were obviously some of the Council’s pet henchman came down the stairs and spread. The man of the hour made his presence known, “Miss Summers it is good to see that you are still standing.”

Playing up the ditzy blond routine Buffy gave him her best smile. “Why Mr Travers I think that is the nicest thing you have ever said to me, I may even start to blush.” Dropping the act she looked around again, trying to see any risks. “As much as I would like to share false pleasantries we should get moving.” She looked at the group coming down the stairs behind him. “And I see you made the effort to save as many Potentials as possible. What did you have to make room for the books? Do you have a flying library onboard?”

At the sound of a buzzing noise they all looked up to see a drone flying overhead. “Oh don’t mind that, that is just Willow keep an eye on us. Come on I guess it is best we get moving. ” 

 

Former Chase mansion

Faith felt strangely calm as she waited for the convoy to arrive. She knew she should be feeling nervous but all she wanted was for them to just arrive already to get down to business.

\-----

Flashback  
There was an awkward silence as they waited for last checks on the Quinjet to be completed. "Any last minute pearls of wisdom?"

"Prepare as best you can but remember even we need sleep."

"Why do I have the feeling that is not as simple as it sounds."

"Guess you can consider that a second pearl." He looked at the Slayer. "You've got this Faith. Who ever you were before you're not her now. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise."

The Slayer looked up at him, her lips dry. She couldn't help but think that if this had been a movie this would be when he would lean in for a kiss. "I'm sorry about how I spoke earlier. I'm not saying I'm wrong cause if this goes FUBAR people are going to need someone who knows what thete doing and to rally behind."

"So no pressure then."

She chuckled. "Yeah no pressure then."

\-------  
See the gate open she stood up straight and made her way down to the front of her steps. Hearing steps behind her she felt the others come down to join her. The sound of glasses being cleaned put Giles on her right which meant Xander was Willow on her left. 

"Well this should be fun. What's the bet it is the same crew that came when Glory showed up and then skedaddled back to merry old England?"

"Those were mainly Travers' assistants, there should also be some more senior members here if not all of them. And try to remember Xander they have no where left to go back to this time. We have to make this work so please try to keep the snark to a minimum."

"I'm not going to make a promise I can't keep." 

Travers was everything Faith had been expecting. Unfit, well dressed, and giving off an air of smug superiority. Unfolding her hands she put on her best polite smile and offered him her hand. "Mr Travers I presume welcome to Sunnydale."

"Miss Lehane." He then turned to Giles. "Rupert now that we can talk face to face there have been some developments that I need to discuss with you privately." For the first time he recognised Willow & Xander's existence. "I'm sure your acquaintances are capable of explaining to my people atleast the basics of the situation whilest we catch up."

Slamming her car door Buffy gave him a look that had sent vampires running. "And they’re not acquaintances they’re part of the team. Something I thought I made clear last time you were here. And B if you wanted someone to carry your bags you should have brought your butler. Did you even bother to give your staff time off or did you just leave them to die?" 

She held up her hand."You know what don't bother answering. While you've been sipping tea on your private jet Xander & Willow has been busy making this place liveable and safe. Whatever you have to say in front of Giles you say in front of all of us including Faith." 

Faith held in a snort. Who needed snark when you could go straight to the drawing of lines? Unsurprisingly it was Xander who tried to bring the peace . "That's okay B, from the looks of half them I'm surprised they were able to lift their bags to the car. Besides they’re not actually staying here are they? I thought it was just the girls and some are staying at mine.”

The Slayer didn’t try to hide her smirk. "No they’re not. There is not enough rooms and I doubt their willing to top and tail.” She came up to Xander and put a hand up on his shoulder “Xander here has offered his place as has Giles. And as they have the most practical experience they’ll be staying here as well as many field watchers as we can fit. As for the rest, well I think Faith can point you in the direction of a motel if you can’t find your own accommodation.”  
That comment startled Faith for a second, as did the look that flickered across Buffy's face. Was that guilt? "Nah that would be too cruel. Besides this lot look like they would have trouble dealing with some of the cockroaches that lived there." GodDamn it now she was making with theach snark! There's a couple of better places, the room service may not be up too their usual standards but there a bit more secure." Giles cleared his throat nervously. "Well know we have got the ... pleasantries out of the way of does anyone want a cup of tea?"

Trying not to groan Faith pinched her nose. Oh yeah this was going to be swell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I probably need to clarify for the X-men the only thing I am considering 'cannon' for this story is the 2000 movie at this stage. It sets up whose who without getting bogged down with where was SHIELD etc.


End file.
